Assumptions About Elementary School Guidance and Counseling

In order to create a comprehensive approach to developmental guidance and counseling, one must understand the basic assumptions and needs that underlie this concept. Myrick (1987) notes that developmental guidance and counseling are based on the premise that human nature moves individuals sequentially and positively toward self-enhancement. Individuals have within them a force that seems to make them believe they are special and unique. This approach also assumes that individual potentials are valuable assets to humanity. This drive for personal expression can require compromise with other powerful forces in the environment. A growing human being must in­teract with individuals who live in a society of laws, regulations, and mutual values. At times these forces can and do clash with an individual’s path to self-fulfillment (Myrick, 1987).

While there is some theory available to guide counseling practice, formal guidance theory still needs elaboration and definition. Guidance theory should suggest when guidance intervention might optimally occur, and for what reasons. For example, if guidance is to stress prevention, then program priorities should emphasize the creation of school environments that pro­mote success rather than failure. In addition, guidance theory should be able to direct counselors where they could most effectively focus their energies.

Good guidance theory should also be able to provide guidelines about who could directly benefit from counseling services. Should teachers benefit from the skills of an elementary school counselor? Should parents? Should children? Should all three? Once the counselor has answers to these ques­tions, she or he will be able 10 define a comprehensive program of guidance that will direct the counselor’s efforts in daily practice. Counselors must be able to determine whether or not they wish to work with children directly (a counseling approach), indirectly (by consulting with teachers), or perhaps both. A comprehensive program of developmental guidance and counseling “‘ Provide the professional elementary school counselor with guidelines for responding to these important questions.

What Is Developmental Guidance?

Although there are a number of definitions of developmental guidance, most include some principles that are generally accepted by most profession­als in the field (Gysbers & Henderson, 1988; Myrick, 1987; Worzbyt & O’Rourke, 1980). One can also discover a wide range of practices subsumed under the term “developmental guidance.” Most guidance programs that could be labeled developmental in nature are organized around the following principles:

l. Guidance and counseling are needed by all children. In a developmental program, guidance and counseling activities are assumed to be needed by all children. Developmental programs, at times, must deal with troubled and troublesome children, but they are developed to serve all children.

All children need to gain self-understanding, assume increasing responsibility for self-control, mature in their understandings of the world around them, and learn to make decisions. In addition, children need help in learning to solve problems and mature in their sense of values (Myrick, 1987). All individuals need to feel a sense of love and worth, all children need to succeed to the limit of their abilities, and all children need to know and accept their strengths.

2. Developmental guidance and, counseling has a focus on children’s learning. Modem elementary schools do not generally lack for specialists. There are specialists to help children read, play musical instruments, and develop physical skills. Counselors are specialists, but they specialize in human growth and development and in the study and understanding of the inner worlds of children.

Counselors also operate under what Myrick (1987) calls an organized and planned curriculum that stresses cognitive, affective, and physical growth and development. This curriculum has particular emphasis on human learning and the human learner. Operationally this means that counselors are members of teams that include parents, teachers, administrators, and other specialists. Their task is to bring to bear their knowledge and skills to help children learn. A child in trouble must learn, and the slow learner must be helped to learn as much as possible, but off children are involved in the learning process. At times the counselor’s role will be that of a teacher in a classroom guidance unit; at other times, counselors will work with children to remove or lessen the impact of situations that impede learning. A major purpose of school is learning. A major purpose of developmental guidance and counseling is helping learners learn

3. Counselors and teachers are cofunctionaries in developmental guidance programs. The unique nature of elementary and middle schools is a key factor in promoting a developmental point of view for guidance programming. While some schools have a number of teachers working with children, the self-contained classroom is soil very common. In such teaching situations, teachers tend to become involved with the whole child, and many teachers were doing “guidance” activities long before elementary school counselors were present. In addition, elementary school teachers, in general, seem to be less subject matter oriented and more child oriented than teachers of adolescents. For example, many elementary school teachers who see a child slipping into academic difficulty will not automatically refer the child for counseling. Often, they will work with counselors in collaborative ways to seek solutions that may not require that the child leaves the classroom. Teachers and counselors approach such situations with the goal of developing hypotheses that can be explored. For example, what is the child’s attention span? Will he do better if I give him shorter assignments? How does she feel about herself? Can a positive guidance activity help him and others like him improve self-images? Will she do better if she works with one or more peers on an assignment? What is his maturity level? What do we know about her strengths and potentials? Can the counselor observe him and see if we can find clues to help him?

As a cofunctionary with the teacher, the counselor does not attempt to provide quick solutions. Nor does the counselor suggest that the first tiling to be done is counsel the child. He or she is not the “expert” or the one with ready answers to complex situations. In this approach, the counselor is a co-investigator into the problem, listening closely lo file teacher’s feelings, clarifying, asking about approaches that have already been tried, and helping evaluate new courses of action Tills is appropriate in that both teachers and counselors know that learning, like growth, is a process, and any single event must be considered as a point on a long continuum of learning. Teamwork between counselors and teachers is essential!

4. An organized and planned, curriculum is a vital part of developmental guidance (Myrick, 1987). All developmental programs should contain a carefully planned and organized curriculum. In a manner similar to the regular school curriculum of mathematics, science, and social studies, the developmental curriculum contains goals and objectives that help children in their normal growth and development. The curriculum stresses cognitive, affective, and physical growth. Areas of study presented in a systematic way to students include activities designed to enhance self-esteem, motivation to achieve, decision making, goal setting, planning, problem-solving skills, interpersonal effectiveness, communication skills, cross-cultural effectiveness, and responsible behavior.

These activities require the collaborative efforts of both teachers and counselors. in this sense, counselors must be able to teach as well as counsel.

5. Developmental guidance is concerned with self-acceptance, self-understanding, and self-enhancement. Whether working with children experiencing problems or with children involved in normal developmental concerns, developmental counselors will focus on activities designed to assist children to know more about themselves and to be more accepting of who they are and more aware of their strengths. For example, the counselor may want to organize counseling groups of one to three sessions that are designed specifically to have children discuss what they do well. The counselor can also use individual counseling sessions to focus on strengths. She or he may want to send letters home relating to parents all signs of positive progress. In the classroom, the counselor should display work for others to see whenever possible. Programmed materials such as DUSO II (Dinkmeyer, 1973) may also be used. In cases where children are not performing up to their own personal expectations, the counselor may need to work in individual and group counseling sessions to help reduce the gap between the actual and ideal self-images of the child.

6. Developmental guidance and counseling focus on the encouragement process. The process of encouragement, though it would seem to be self-evident in working with children, is more complex than most believe. It is insufficient that one wishes to encourage a child. In fact, the result of any corrective act depends less on what “e counselor or teacher does than on how the child perceives and responds to the process (Dinkmeyer & Dreikurs, ’963, p. 4). The methods of encouragement ^as outlined by Dinkmeyer and Dreikurs stress that the person who encourages:

1. Places value on the child as she or he is.

2. Shows a faith in the child that enables the child to have faith in himself or herself.

3. Has faith in the child’s ability; wins the child’s confidence while building self-respect

4. Recognizes a job “well done”; gives recognition for effort.

5. Utilizes the group to facilitate and enhance the development of the child.

6. Integrates the group so that the child can be sure of his or her place in it.

7. Assists in the development of skills sequentially and psychologically paced to permit success.

8. Recognizes and focuses on strengths and assets

9. Utilizes the interests of the child to energize instruction, (p. 50)

Counselors using this approach will use statements such as ‘That was a great

try!” more frequently than they will use statements lik; “Your reading needs lots of work.”

7. Developmental guidance acknowledges directional development rather than definitive ends. Developmental counselors understand that children are in the process of becoming, that their physical and psychological growth will undergo multiple changes before they reach adulthood. Therefore, they design and evaluate activities for children with the idea that they do not expect any single activity to produce a final and unchanging result. They design activities based on developmental ages of children. Counselors should not expect that marked changes will take place in children after one or even ten counseling sessions. Father than consider how a child has changed as a result of counseling, the counselor should concentrate on progress that has been made- Guidance and counseling at this level is truly a process, not a one act play.

8. Developmental guidance, while team oriented, requires the services of a trained professional counselor. As noted, successful developmental guidance programs require the efforts of all school personnel. In order to obtain maximum effectiveness of programs, schools must have access to the skills and knowledge of a trained ‘counselor, who has specialized skills in individual counseling, group counseling, assessment, and child development. Otherwise comprehensive guidance programs are not possible. The counselor is a vital part of a dynamic process. The counselor’s skills support and enhance the efforts of teachers and administrators in the schools.

9. Developmental guidance is concerned with early identification of specie needs.

Developmental guidance programs stress the early identification of the special needs of children. Counselors work with teachers to assess these needs which, if left unattended, could become problem’ requiring a remedial effort later in a child’s life. Specialized child study efforts, the use of both large and small group

approaches, and close relationships with parents are all integral pan; of early identification.

10. Developmental guidance is concerned with the psychology of use. Educators have long been concerned with the assessment of intelligence, aptitudes, interests, and personalities of children and adults. While assessment remains a pan of elementary school guidance, developmental philosophy is also concerned with how children utilize the qualities abilities and interests they possess. Developmental counselors are not only concerned with an assessment of a child’s capacity to learn. They are also interested in how children use their abilities. Are there challenges for the gifted and talented? Do slow-learning children make maximum use of learning aids? Do children with musical talents have an outlet for creative expression? To a developmental counselor, what children do and do not do with their given abilities is equally as important as the abilities themselves.

11. Developmental guidance has foundations in child psychology, child development, and learning theory. The principles of developmental guidance listed here have roots in child psychology child development, and learning theory. If guidance is to be truly developmental, then guidance programs must be designed to fit the child children should not be made to fit the programs! Thus developmental guidance borrows from the concepts advanced by specialists in child psychology and human development. Our guidance practice is consistent with what we know about growing organisms. In addition, since a cornerstone of developmental guidance is helping children become competent learners, counselors at this level should be keen students of human learning.

12. Developmental guidance is both sequential and flexible (Myrick, 1987). To be effective, developmental guidance must be flexible enough to meet individual differences and planned so that what is accomplished by counselors is not done in a random, haphazard way (Myrick, 1987). Some activities (play in counseling for example) are appropriate for students in grade two but are inappropriate for students in grade seven. The counselor will want to design goals for specific developmental age levels, and guidance practice must follow these goals. Guidance at this level is proactive.

It is not enough to wail until students have problems in their classes or have misunderstandings with their teachers before they receive some guid­ance. Rather, students can benefit by identifying the kinds of behaviors that are related to achievement and then rating themselves or comparing ratings with teacher ratings (Myrick, 1987, p. 44). Many counselors and teachers who develop programs design them so they can be moved around and inserted into the curriculum to address particular needs or concerns. For ex­ample, the counselor should develop a unit dealing with traumatic events such as earthquakes if she or he lives in a region in which earthquakes commonly take place and are likely to be on the minds of children.

Differences Between Elementary and Middle School and Secondary School Guidance

To the neophyte in guidance, the concept of a developmental approach may seem obvious in that the principles of developmental guidance not only are consistent with sound educational practice, but they also reflect a philosophy that is goal and potential oriented, rather than remedial. There are, however some important differences for counselors to consider in developing programs of guidance and counseling at the elementary school level, as follows:

1. In most cases, the elementary school environment is significantly different from that of the secondary school. Most elementary and middle school counselors do not see each child on a consistent basis; hence, counselors may be unable to significantly change the learning environment of a child even when such a change can l«ad to increased learning.

2. There will be numerous occasions when children will not utilize guidance services directly, but will experience them indirectly through teachers, parents, and other adults.

3. The concept of choice is central to guidance at any level, and it is especially true for developmental programs. However, in the elementary school, the opportunities for most choices, especially curricular ones, are very much limited

4. Children in elementary schools are not able to assume self-responsibility as much i as are those in secondary schools.

5. The development of all guidance programs at the elementary school level should initiate from the basic concept that guidance is primarily concerned with providing assistance to children as learners.

6. Elementary school guidance places relatively less emphasis on record keeping, testing, educational programming, problem-centered approaches, and extended long-term individual counseling and therapy.

Goals of Elementary and Middle School Guidance and Counseling

All children need to develop self-understanding and an understanding and appreciation of the individuals who live in this world. In a society that is rapidly becoming more pluralistic, individuals must be informed and respon­sible. Developmental guidance is based on the premise that a positive regard and respect for human dignity is essential in an interdependent society. In order to reach these objectives, everyone involved in elementary and middle

school guidance and counseling programs will need to work coward the following goals. All children will:

1. Experience positive feelings from their interactions with peers, teachers, parents, and other adults.

2. Derive personal meaning from their learning activities.

3. Develop and maintain a positive sense of self, value their individuality, and be able to understand and relate to their feelings.

4. Become aware of the importance of their own values, and develop values consistent with those necessary to live in a pluralistic society.

5. Develop and enhance academic skills to the maximum of their ability.

6. Learn the necessary coping skills so that they will be better able to deal with the normal developmental concerns and problems that they will encounter.

7. Develop appropriate goal-setting, planning, and problem-solving skills.

8. Develop positive attitudes toward life.

9. Realize that they are responsible for their own behavior.

10. Work with parents in a variety of planned programs to assist them to develop attitudes and skills to enhance the child’s academic and social development

11. Work closely with classroom teachers to enhance learning activities.

Of these goals, perhaps the single most important one and the one that should be the cornerstone of a developmental guidance program is that the basic and major function of guidance in elementary and middle schools is the facilitation of learning. The purpose of the school is for learning, and if guidance is to be an integral part of the process, then all guidance activities should be directed toward learning. Children who are learning feel compe­tent and confident about themselves as learners; children who grow in a climate fosters learning about themselves and about the world around climate much better chance of growing into competent, healthy adults.  All schools are social laboratories, and the learning process has both psychological and academic components. If the counselor uses this overall goal of facilitation of learning as a guide for developmental practice, he or she can almost be assured that children will develop the ability to handle the demands and pressures of their environment with a high degree of success.

Implementing a Developmental Guidance Program in the Schools

Counselors who accept the principles of developmental guidance will need to be actively involved in the design and implementation of such programs. A hard, if unfortunate, lesson learned from the initiation of guidance in the secondary schools is that unless guidance professionals assume a proactive stance in the creation of programs, then others will determine the essential aspects of what is to be accomplished. Many secondary counselors are viewed as the one who “cures die problems” or the one who “sends kids to the right college.” The principal and others who determine school policy are more often than not involved in deciding what the counselor would do. If a coun­selor is starting a new program and is not prepared 10 define her or his pro­fessional role in the schools, she or he can be certain that there are numerous others who will be pleased to define that role.

There are a number of approaches one can take to achieve program de­velopment in the schools. One of the most widely accepted models devel­oped in recent years is that advocated by Gysbers and Henderson in 1988. The plan suggested by these authors is a four-phased approach that includes planning, designing, implementing, and evaluating. Many school districts in the country have used this model guide in the creation or the restructuring of guidance programs.

Planning a Developmental Program

arming should not be done in isolation. Experience in educational institutions all levels has taught us that individuals who have a say in the development of goals will be more likely to work toward those goals. A guidance program that is planned and implemented in the quiet confines of the counselor’s office is almost certainly doomed to failure. A group effort is essential, therefore, to the individuals who will be involved in the process of guidance and to those who will be the consumers of what guidance has to offer. Organizing for guidance must involve key individuals in an organized, unified effort. If the plan is for a districtwide developmental guidance program, then the counselor should include personnel from the superintendent’s office. If the district has a number of schools, then there needs to be active involvement by principals and other specialists from these schools. Individuals with expertise in special education, reading, and health are good candidates for a districtwide committee. If the guidance program is only for individual school, the involvement of the building principal is essential.

At both the district level and the local building level, parent input, highly desirable. In-a number of districts in the country at the present time some fundamentally sound and widely utilized guidance approaches have come under attack from conservative parent groups who feel that any discus­sion of children’s feelings and any group approaches are either antireligious or socialistic. While most consider these attitudes archaic, such groups tend to be vocal, active, and single-minded. Once organized, they target specific activities and place the counselor and the school in a defensive stance. It is far better to canvas the community and involve parents who are community leaders from the outset in the planning for guidance policy. Counselors who fail to involve parents from the beginning may well oppose them in altercations at some later dale.

In order to plan, counselors must first organize a representative commit­tee (Gysbers & Hendcrson, 1988). Such committees are often called steering committees, organizing committees, or simply guidance committees. Their task is the planning, designing, implementing, and evaluation of guidance. These committees may vary in size, from around eight to twelve members, but they should not be too large for active participation by all members. As noted, each committee should have building and district administrators, a principal or other specialist, teachers, and parents. The counselor is the or­ganizer and the consultant to the committee, but the policy that emerges from the interaction must be the joint effort of all who are involved. A grass roots effort of this nature is absolutely essential for the initiation of the planning process.

The steering committee, charged with the task of revising or implement­ing a comprehensive program of guidance, will need to become involved in a number of important issues. Since no single model is appropriate for all schools and all districts, the committee will initially have to develop a com­prehensive model as a guide for practice. This document should just be a

guide, because the eventual curriculum will have content and goals that are locally developed.

A review by the authors of a number of guides for the development of comprehensive models reveals many similarities in programs initiated in most states. While there are a number of differences from state to state, the model developed in Texas is fairly representative of baseline planning goals that in turn will help determine guidance content. The Texas model includes the following goals for learners:

Self-esteem

Motivation to achieve

Decision-making, goal-setting, and planning skills

Problem-solving skills

Interpersonal effectiveness

Communication skills

Cross-cultural effectiveness

Responsible behavior

(Texas Education Agency, 1991, p. 70)

With these broad areas in mind, the guidance committee should next attention to the development of locally appropriate statements of definition, rationale and the underlying assumptions of the program. Program definition includes the identification of the populations to be served (students, parents, teachers, administrators), the basic content of the program (content areas and goals), and the organization of the program (delivery system, guidance curriculum, individual planning system, responsive services and system support). The rationale for the program should result from assessment of the needs of the students and the community. These may he either general in nature (at the district level) or specific (at the building level).

In addition, all the assumptions on which the program is based need to be made as clear as possible. These may include a description of the coun­selors’ professional training, background, and professional experiences as they relate to the program. Assumptions should also include the contribu­tions that guidance can make to normal healthy individual development. It is also of vital importance at this juncture to describe the conditions necessary for successful implementation, which include staffing, districtwide commit­ment, opportunities for program and staff development, budget, materials, supplies and equipment, and facilities for the program. All of these are es­sential components and must be included in the planning process (Texas Education Agency, 1991).

Designing a Developmental Program

The initial planning process will lead naturally into the design for a comprehensive guidance program. This stage of the process will require the commit­tee to make a number of difficult decisions. The essential work of the com­mittee will be to answer questions similar to those posed by Henderson (1987):

1. Which program component should have high priority for counselors?
2. Of the competencies that need to be learned, which should be emphasized at each grade level, or grade grouping?
3. Who will be served and with what priority: all students in a developmental mode, or some students in a remedial services mode? What are the relationships between services to students and services to adults in the students’ lives?
4. What competencies and outcomes will have priority?
5. What skills will be utilized by the school counselors; teaching, guiding, counseling, consulting, testing, record keeping, coordinating, or disseminating ‘”formation, and with what priority?
6. What school levels will benefit, and to what extent from the resources appropriated to the program: elementary, middle school/junior high school, or high school?
7. What is the relationship between the guidance program and staff and the other educational programs and staff? Is the sole purpose of guidance to support the

instructional program? Does guidance have an identity and responsibilities of its own? Should it be a program or a set of services?

To guide thinking in the design of comprehensive guidance program Gysbers and Henderson (1988) have developed a seven-step process to establish the design of a program at either the building or district level, a described in the following paragraphs.

1. Select the basic program structure. The structural components contain: (a) program definition (mission statement, statement of centrality in the school, and the competencies the individual will possess as a result of involvement); (b) a rationale for program existence (guidance as an equal partner in the educational’ process); and (c) any assumptions (principles that shape the program). Program l components include the guidance curriculum (goals and competencies to be developed in the program), individual planning (personal, educational, and appropriate grade-level career plans), responsive services (special help to students, counseling and remedial interventions), and system support (staff development, budget, community support, and individual planning activities).

2. List student competencies. In this process the counselor lists the competencies the guidance program will help students acquire. These include the knowledge,

skills, and attitudes the students will develop as a result of their participation in the guidance program.

3. Reaffirm policy support. Starting with the building principal and working through the superintendent, the counselor will need to reaffirm the school district’s support for the concepts in the design. With the help of the steering committee the counselor will next develop a policy statement. Again, the counselor will want the key individuals up through the school board to be part of the design- Since individuals work better toward goals that they have helped develop, working with key individuals along the way will simply help ensure program success.

4. Establish parameters for resource allocation. In this step the counselor is ready to define, in more concrete terms, the design of the program. This step is closely tied to the resources available. Will the design include only activities for which there is funding? In cases where existing programs are undergoing revision, some aspects of a comprehensive program may have to be delayed until additional resources are available. Also included in this process is the allocation of human resources. How much time can be allocated for counseling? for teachers? for other personnel?

At this juncture the counselor will also need to define his or her own role-Discussions of the role of counselors at all levels has long been an issue in the field, and a move to comprehensive guidance programs will not make the issue go away. Gysbers and Henderson (1988) point out that a list of nine or ten dudes will not suffice. They recommend instead that counselors develop position guides that describe the primary function of the job, its major responsibilities, key duties, organizational relationships, and performance standards. This description should include expectations of counselors’ performance in teaching the guidance curriculum, counseling, consulting, referral, and other responses to specific needs and problems. It will also be important to define the role of all other individuals who work in the guidance program. As the program evolves, others such as teachers, parents, and volunteers should operate under role defi­nitions. When the roles of others are not written down and agreed upon then guidance can become whatever anyone in power in the school wishes it to be. More than one well-prepared counselor has been relegated to clerk status by a powerful principal who has his or her own view of what counselors should and should not do. The danger of this occurring in modem elementary and middle schools has not diminished. By dealing with the issue early on, the counselor may avoid pitfalls.

5. Specify student outcomes. A program based on specific student outcomes has, in the long run a much greater chance of success than does one with a range of –nebulous and largely unmanageable statements about hoped-for outcomes. Concepts such as understanding and respecting others, making wise choices, possessing problem-solving skills, and communicating effectively are appropriate outcomes. These goals should be stated in. a manner that allows teachers, parents, and other professionals to understand them. A goal such as “all children will experience enhanced self-esteem and a more fluid way of relating to others” may well be understood by other counselors and by some teachers. To parents, however, it may say nothing. As the counselor’s work progresses, she or he will want to develop specific grade-level outcomes and school-level outcomes. Once developed, everyone impacted by the outcomes and competences, including the guidance steering committee and the school administrative staff, should review them.

6. Specify activities by components. The next step in the process is to define the major emphases and the major activities in each component of the program. For each of the components of the guidance curriculum, these include the scope and sequence of the program and a restatement of the student outcomes expected for each. In the individual planning component, the task is one of defining the major activities that assist students to make individual plans. These plans may be educational and/or appropriate career plans. Individual planning activities are the ones that have been traditionally a part of most guidance programs. In the area of responsive services, counselors and others involved should identify the topics that students, teachers, and parents usually present. These will then allow for the development of a systematic means of addressing these concerns. An example would be a listing of the concerns that seem to impede normal personal, academic, social, or career development. Topics may include divorce, child abuse, causes of school failure, discipline, family situations, and peer pressures. Once identified, school personnel can develop a system for addressing each of these.

system support is also important. This aspect has two parts: the support needed by the guidance effort and the support provided by the guidance effort. The support needed by the guidance program includes appropriate school policies and administrative procedures related to guidance. Ii also includes the areas of staffing, budget, facilities, and equipment. The support the guidance effort provides to other programs includes consulting, referrals, staff development, working with special populations, discipline, and curriculum.

7. Write down and distribute the description of the desired program. This is the final step in e design process. If the other steps have been completed, then the program in a unified form should be put in writing and shared with all who are concerned. The finished design should be renewed in detail and revised by the steering committee, the school administration, teachers, and others it may impact. The school board should also review and approve final revision. In this way, the plan will have a better chance of “being owned” by the power structure. Gysbers and Henderson (1988) recommend that the final version contain five parts: the structural components, the position guides, the program components, the recommended design/resource allocation for the program, and appendices. Note: Tile material for this section was both quoted and adapted from Developing and Managing Your School Guidance Program by Norman Gysbers and Patricia Henderson. The book should be consulted in its entirety for a complete discussion.

Implementing the Program

While careful planning and design are essential steps in guidance program development, the task of implementation also requires additional planning and a dedicated effort on the part of all concerned. Again, all counselors must remember that individuals work towards goals that they have had some say in developing. Hence, in this phase, as well as the others, all who are part of guidance or impacted by the process must be kept constantly informed and involved as much as possible. Lest we forget, teachers and administrators have additional agendas, and guidance may be only a part of what they deem important. Counselors, therefore, must be proactive in their implementation efforts.

A number of potential program improvements should come to the fore as a result of the organizing, planning, and designing process. The counselor can use guidelines developed in these components to decide on priorities and how they will be met The counselor will use the goals that have been established to provide parameters for all improvement plans.

Implementation of a program works best when plans are developed for an entire school year. It will be helpful if the overall plan is broken down into monthly and weekly segments that direct the delivery of the guidance program as well as specialized counseling services.

Gysbers and Henderson (1988) suggest a transition planning stage as the school moves into a new program. Using Northside Independent School Dis­trict in San Antonio, Texas, as a model, they recommend that counselors carefully analyze their present programs in order to gather appropriate data that will enable them to compare and contrast any elements in the present program with those that are not yet in place. This will provide counselors with an assessment of where programs overlap and where there are obvious gaps that require attention. By engaging in this discrepancy analysis, coun­selors will be able to determine the placement of resources. For example, if counselors are spending a small percentage of time in activities related to the guidance curriculum and an identified goal is the increase of time in that component, decisions that direct the counselor’s attention to that compo­nent will probably need to be made. If additional resources are not available or forthcoming, counselors may decide to reduce the time spent in the re­sponsive or individual planning aspects of the program in favor of more teaching of the guidance curriculum.

The discrepancy analysis process should be a positive experience for all involved with the program- With the help of teachers, parents, administra­tors, and others, the counseling staff should now be ready to create activities that it has been determined are of major importance. If, for example, a discrepancy analysis shows that very few students are ever counseled, you may 10 study the responsive component of the program. Further analysis may reveal that the school offers little or no group counseling. In this in stance a newly created activity could be the initiation of developmental counseling groups for various grade and age levels. Other priorities calling for different activities could emerge in the support system aspect of the pro­gram or in the guidance curriculum.

It is perhaps redundant to suggest that all activities be carefully planned, but lack of planning has been a major historical weakness in many guidance programs, particularly those developed shortly after the inception of the NDEA Institutes and based on a problem-centered program of services model. All planning should be based on high-priority needs in the local school system as these needs relate to the overall developmental goals. A good plan will contain objectives linked to student guidance outcomes.

Program Evaluation

Gysbers and Henderson (1988) indicate that evaluation is not something done in the very last step of program revision. Rather, it is an ongoing process that provides continuous feedback during all phases of the program. The major purpose of evaluation is to provide data for the necessary decisions about program structure and future developments.

Trotter (1991) recommends a context-level evaluation which is used to describe current practice, characterize the student-client population, inven­tory human, financial, material, equipment, and political resources presently available to the program, and assess consumer needs. In this design, the counselor can assess current practices by using information from counselor logs that describes the nature and frequency of student-client contacts, job descriptions, student and consumer surveys, selected interviews with individ­uals from consumer groups, and the use of time and task analysis proce­dures. Assessment of the consumers of the program includes a gathering of facts about counselor- and teacher-to-student ratios, general achievement lev­els, socioeconomic status, ethnic composition, attendance and dropout figures, and the prevalence of exceptionality.

consumer needs may be evaluated by gathering data from the advisory committee, using a qualified staff of outside observers (consultants) familiar with elementary guidance, presenting open forums for the community, conducting structured interviews with consumers (parents, teachers, students, administrators), and implementing record reviews, criterion-referenced surveys, and follow-up studies (Trotter, 1991).

Counselors should have an outline of an evaluation plan to guide their efforts program review and change. They can choose from a number of approaches. A plan designed by a study group for the Texas Education agency recommends the following eight steps:

1. State the evaluation question.
2. Determine the audiences/uses for the evaluation.
3. Gather data to answer the questions.
4. Apply the predetermined standards.
5. Draw conclusions.
6. Consider the context.
7. Make recommendations.
8. Act on the recommendations.

(Texas Education Agency, 1991, p. 93)

The evaluation process will require more than the counselor’s efforts alone. Since comprehensive, developmental programs involve all children and other professional personnel, the evaluation of guidance must involve all who use guidance activities and all who may be impacted by these activities.

A natural starting point for evaluation of guidance is to examine the stated goals and objectives. In addition, it is essential to also examine the staff who are charged with the delivery of the services. All goals and objec­tives listed for the program should be turned into research questions for the evaluation process. For example, if the goals suggested earlier in the chapter

were Co be the basis for evaluation, the research questions would be as follows:

1. Are our children experiencing positive feelings from teachers, parents, and peers?
2. Is learning meaningful for our children?
3. Are our children developing positive self-images?
4. Are our children becoming more aware of their personal values and the values necessary to live in a pluralistic society?
5. Are our children developing the necessary academic skills?
6. Are our children developing planning, problem-solving, and goal-setting skills?
7. Are our children developing coping skills?
8. Are our children developing positive attitudes toward life?
9. Is there evidence that our children are developing responsibility for their own behavior?
10. How effective is our program for parents?
11. How effective are our efforts with teachers in the enhancement of learning?

Even the neophyte evaluator will be able to see that the evaluation of guidance cannot be a one-time, finished product. Many guidance activities are part of a long-term process and must be viewed as such. An assessment of a child’s self-image done in September may be quite .different from an addi­tional assessment done in May, particularly if the child has been actively in­volved in the guidance program. Evaluators should also note that guidance goals are generally stated in broad terms, and a given goal may require two or more research designs in order to gather appropriate data for decision making. Again, it is essential that evaluation be considered a regular process that is part of the ongoing program in a manner similar to the guidance cur­riculum and the counseling program. The data needed will be related to the kinds of goals being measured. In some cases, the evaluation process may simple counting or a perceptual check of consumers’ opinions. For example the number of contact hour; spent in group counseling or in the teaching of the guidance curriculum will provide quantitative data for evaluation purposes.

Qualitative data may be more difficult to measure. Assessing client satisfaction (teacher, parent, child) of various components of the counseling pro-ram is one way to determine the quality of a given effort. .In a similar vein, the counselor may want to survey the children in the school to determine if they feel that they are generally receiving positive feelings from others (peers, teachers, parents). Then by simply computing frequencies and per­centages of children who are and who are not experiencing positive feelings, the counselor can evaluate those aspects of the program designed to pro­mote positive feelings. This review could cause the counselor to add, en­hance, or delete some guidance activities. Based on these kinds of data, the counselor might decide to increase group counseling efforts, add new units to the guidance curriculum, or develop special programs for teachers and parents.

Counselors may also want to determine program effectiveness by measur­ing whether guidance programming has had any positive impact on con­sumers. For example, suppose counselors are concerned with enhancing the self-esteem of children in grades five and six. They could use a standardized instrument such as the Children’s Self-Concept Scale or the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory as a pretest measure. Once they have gathered and reviewed this data, counselors may want to design activities to improve the self-images of children. After they have implemented the activities, counselors could use the same instruments again, to determine whether or not the guidance activ­ity conducted had any impact on the self-esteem of children. This simple de­sign is widely used in numerous research designs in education and psychology.

In the evaluation process, counselors should not overlook single case studies. For example, suppose Mr. Radcliff, a teacher new to the school, seeks the counselor’s help because he is encountering difficulties with class-room management. The new teacher feels the need to do a better job in “discipline” and indicates that much of his time is spent in attempts to control the class. He feels that the learning suffers because valuable teaching time is spent on “problem children.” In a developmental program, Ms. Arnold, the counselor, may choose to observe the class, discuss her observations with the teacher, and help plan some activities to deal with Mr. Radcliff’s concerns. She would not automatically begin by counseling the “problem kids,” although this is an option Chat she might choose later. How does one evaluate this important counselor activity? A good starting point may be simply an assessment of how the teacher feels about the counselor interventions. Does he consider her work helpful? Why or why not? After the counselor interventions, are there fewer disruptions in class? Is the learning climate any better? y keeping careful records of what transpired between teacher and counselor, it is possible to make at least a subjective evaluation of one component of a developmental program. In a similar way, the counselor can use subjec­tive evaluations of direct work with a parent or parents or with children for evaluation purposes. Counselors will not only want to maintain records on how many times consumers are seen, they will also want to keep records on progress of individuals.

Counselors should have a general plan or outline that includes local goals. The Texas Education Agency (1991) and other professional groups suggest four general areas of guidance evaluation:

1. How effective have program improvements been?
2. Does the program meet the program standards?
3. Have students become competent in die high-priority content areas?
4. How well arc counselors performing their roles?

In the program improvement area, counselors should list objectives and strategies co be accomplished. These objectives should then be organized into a series of tasks that are to be accomplished in a given period of time. This will provide data on which objectives were met and which were not. Those not met may call for a change of strategy or a different process altogether.

Program standards have both a qualitative and a quantitative dimension. In the quantitative domain, counselors should note the numbers of contacts with parents, teachers, and children. Qualitative evaluations are those that show the outcomes or how well the standard was met. Stated another way, a quantitative evaluation might report, The counselor met with 67 children in October and November.” A qualitative statement may read, “Both parents and teachers generally expressed satisfaction with the program at two recent PTA meetings.” While not all reports will be as positive as this one, coun­selors who take the time to evaluate may be pleasantly surprised about the impact of their work with individual children.

Student competencies may be evaluated by examining both cognitive and affective dimensions. Test scores, inventories, observations, case studies, pretest/posttest comparisons, goal attainment scaling, and follow-up inter­views can all be used to assess competencies. For example, guidance directors may evaluate counselors by determining how well they are meeting job per­formance standards. Using a job description as a guide, directors employing performance evaluations can help counselors make maximum use of their professional skills- For example, one aspect of the counselor’s job could be evaluated as follows:

Evaluation Question. Does the developmental group counseling meet local, state,

and national standards for group work?

Target Audiences. Counselors, teachers, administrators, parents.

Data Gathering Methods. Interviews, reports, records, observations, professional peer review, self-reports, parent and teacher opinion data, and outside observer comments.

Standards. Indicators of performance, competencies.

Conclusion. Overall rating of the developmental group counseling program based on the data gathered for me evaluation.

Special Consultations. Experience level of the counselor, length of time the program was conducted, nature of the counseled groups (children with normal concerns or deeper problems), availability of children for balanced counseling groups. Recommendations. Ratings to include the strengths and weaknesses of the program. Special emphasis on suggestions for improvement.

Flan of Action. All steps mat are necessary for continued improvement (For

example, a workshop to increase group counseling skills for counselors.)

All aspects of the program may be evaluated using a plan similar to the one

presented here.

A final step in evaluation is the determination of who will review the data gathered in the evaluation process. Obviously, all counselors and the director of guidance will want to review the findings. In some cases, it may be useful to have other professionals, such as teachers, review the findings and provide additional input The school district administration or perhaps the building administrator are also likely recipients of evaluation studies.

It is worth repeating that the purpose of evaluation is for program im­provement. Counselors who plan, organize, and implement a comprehensive program of guidance have little to fear from evaluations. In fact, most will probably enjoy learning that their efforts are generally perceived as being useful to guidance consumers. In reviewing data gathered for evaluations, counselors should focus on what they are doing well and then review the areas that need improvement.

One theme among authors who have developed comprehensive guid­ance programs is that new or expanding programs must not be considered as a group of loosely related adjunct services. In addition, there appears to be a high degree of consensus about how a new program or a revised one should proceed in making changes. For example, Jeanne Collet, writing in an ERIC/CAPS Fact Sheet (1983), proposes the following five guidelines for new comprehensive programs:

1. Build on existing programs. Evolution is not as costly as complete renovation.
2. Use teamwork. Parents, teachers, administrators, and members of the community all have skills and insights to offer guidance.
3. Determine outcomes. Counselors need to determine what are desirable student outcomes. Once a list of these has been developed, different guidance consumer groups (parents, teachers, administrators) should review it Plans for priority outcomes may then be determined, and counselors will have valuable input data determine priority outcomes.
4. Program activities should be designed around desired student outcomes. For each desired student outcome, counselors should design a model of the stages through which students must progress in order to reach the final outcome stage. The counselor , develop activities to help students reach that stage and include evidence that the students are mastering the skills and concepts inherent in these
5. Develop an ongoing evaluation system. Evaluation is an ongoing process, (pp. 1,2)

For the reader who may just be entering the counseling profession, the logic of Gysbers, Henderson, Collet, Hargens, the Texas Education Agency and others may seem obvious. Neophytes may wonder how else a comprehensive program could be organized. Readers should be aware, however, that the ideas these authors are expressing represent an evolution from what was considered sound elementary guidance in the 1960s. During the 1960s and previously, very little was written about guidance curriculum, and indi­vidual planning was not suggested as part of the counselor’s work in the ele­mentary school (Muro, 1968; Faust, 1968; Hatch & Costar, 1961). Under the original Three C” model for elemental-)’ and middle school guidance (coun­selors as consultants, coordinators, and counselors), most counselor func­tions were in the guidance component now called the responsive mode, pri­marily in the area of individual problem-centered counseling. While a modicum of systems support was generally provided by counselors, it was generally approached from the perspective of one problem or another in the lives of children.

Perhaps the greatest departure from the earlier elementary and middle school guidance programs is in the area of a guidance curriculum. As au­thors and writers began to embrace a developmental philosophy for elemen­tary school, they began to conceptualize ways that would involve more adults in the guidance program. Dinkmeyer’s Developing Understanding of Self and Others (DUSO and DUSO II) (Dinkmeyer, 1970, 1973) and Glasserian classroom meetings (Glasser, 1968) are examples of the movement to expand guidance beyond the counselor’s office. New and improved materials are still very much a part of the modern guidance curriculum. Grow with Guidance (Radd, 1990) is an example of sequenced, prepared guidance activates.

One problem for counselors with limited budgets, however, is that much of the commercially produced material may be beyond the financial re­sources available to the school. In addition, some counselors prefer to create materials that focus on locally relevant issues or significant events. For exam­ple, Kline and Vernon (1986) suggested that commercially produced materi­als may not be useful for children in a given locale. A plant closing where parents of children lose jobs is an example of an event that will require the development of local materials.

Kline and Vernon (1986) outlined a six-step model for the creation of lo­cally produced activities. Their plan involves developing, experiencing, pub­lishing, processing, generalizing, and applying specific objectives.

For each activity counselors develop, they first should attempt to deter­mine exactly what students are expected to learn from the experience. They list these outcomes in the form of behavioral objectives. If, for example, the activity deals with feelings, counselors may want to specify that students en­gaged in the activity will learn five new feeling words. For each twenty to forty minute activity, counselors should have two objectives.

Once the objectives have been determined, counselors move on to the experiencing stage. Children participate in activities that stimulate ideas re­lated to the objective. Continuing the example above, the counselor would design activities that would help children explore ideas related to feelings. Role playing, reflection, and problem-solving and decision-making activities could be used to facilitate their experiences.

The publication phase has the goal of “bringing to the surface, thoughts, feelings, and behavioral reactions, about the experiencing phase” (Kline & Vernon, 1986, p. 24). This phase should also reflect the objectives of die exercise. At this point counselors ask appropriate questions, such as, “What were your feelings when you were playing the role of the teacher?” Part of this process is determining whether the reactions meet the objectives. There are a number of ways to determine this by written or oral responses or re­sponses to specific items on an inventory. The counselor designs the activity so that all participants get the opportunity to display their ideas.

The next two steps involve process and generalization. In the process phase, the counselors may choose to summarize the responses and identify themes, particularly those that reflect universalization mechanisms in the group. Counselors may then ask additional questions to help students draw their own conclusions about the material.

The generalization phase includes counselor efforts to present concepts that will help students organize and understand the experiences. Themes about common experiences are also useful at this juncture. The counselor will summarize and cap discussion themes to bring about better self-understanding, awareness of more thoughts and feelings, and the learning of behavioral consequences.

In the final or application phase, students practice skills and learn how to apply these skills to individual situations. An example of a counselor intervention in this phase may be to ask, “How would you express your feelings if you were angry at a friend?” (Kline & Vernon, 1986, p. 26).

The range and scope of locally developed guidance activities are limited only by the imagination of the counselor. For illustrations of counselor-developed activities, sec Appendix I.

Developmental Guidance and Significant Other Professionals

Myrick (1987) notes that it is a mistake to think of guidance and counseling as the private domain of counselors. If one accepts the contention that developmental guidance is for all children, then it follows that other professional nonprofessional adults will have a role in the guidance process. Myrick provides a list that outlines a wide range of specific duties for principals, counselors, teachers, social workers, career or occupational specialists, school psychologists, and social workers. Of course, only the larger or the ost wealthy districts will have the benefit of such a cadre of professionals, ^u a district is lucky enough to employ this range of specialists, then it is essential to delineate the roles of each.

A word of caution, however, should be expressed here. Numerous guidance texts and articles in professional journals seem to focus on the roles of.  Other Professionals who may work with counselors. One concern, of course, is that guidance professionals who are suggesting role and function descriptions for other professionals rarely bother to consult with the two professional groups to determine whether they see their roles the same way. Counselors or the counseling profession simply cannot “lay on” a role description for a principal, teacher, or psychologist. The very best that can be done when two professionals seem to have concerns over who does what with whom is to talk directly with that professional to determine roles that are agreeable to all involved. To say that a principal should provide encouragement and support for guidance is a given, but all others who report to the principal also expect her or him to provide the same kind of support to, their areas.

In the recent past, conflicts between counselors and principals were not uncommon, and not unexpected. One must remember that principals are prepared in departments of educational administration, and their views on guidance may well be influenced by professors of educational administration. Aspiring principals enrolled in graduate classes in supervision may be taught a very different version of guidance than aspiring counselors enrolled in de­partments of counselor education! In determining the counselor’s role or the role of others at the building or district level, communication among groups is essential.

Counselors who are newly hired in a school or in a district would be wise to have a carefully structured discussion with the-building principal or the su­perintendent or both before signing any contracts. The counselor may find it far easier to resolve problems at the contract negotiation stage than later, when he or she discovers that a program they may want to implement is not part of the principal’s value system. In a similar vein, counselors have no more right to tell teachers, principals, psychologists, or social workers what their roles should be than other professionals do in determining the counselor’s role!

Again, interaction, as early as possible, is the key to program harmony. A good starting point is to renew- the total school objectives and the objectives of guidance, psychology, special education, and Other specialty areas. Next should come an assessment of what skills all individuals possess, what philoso­phies guide their practice, and what their strengths may be. For example. school psychologists who claim disruptive children as their chief concern will probably make most developmentally oriented counselors very happy.

Almost nothing will cause guidance personnel to become “persona non grata” in a school faster than the overexuberance of a well-meaning but un” sophisticated counselor who delights in defining the role of ail others in relation to the role of the counselor. In most cases, other professionals will have only a minimal understanding of guidance or counseling and almost no understanding of developmental guidance. Well-informed counselors will see their very first job in the school as one of interaction on an equal basis with all other professionals. Interaction, in turn, develops group cohesion, and group cohesion is essential if a mutuality of goals is to be reached. We are not implying that counselors should simply sit back and let others determio⁶ what the counselor should do, since almost certainly the counselor would be relegated to a heavy dose of problem children. Counselors must be proactive in describing their skills, but they must do so in a way that is not arrogant or condescending. Remember, many teachers, rincipals, and special educators have advanced degrees also, and they just may view the world through a different set of spectacles.

principals

The very best thing that a principal can do for guidance is to be supportive of the program. In spite of the fact that counselors sometimes want to be considered as “positive agents of change,” the reality of public education is that little takes place in most schools without principal approval. Principals can provide a great deal of support by enlisting faculty help with the guidance program, and in some cases becoming an active participant in some phase of the program. Of course the principal is the allocator of resources, both human and material, and he or she should work with the counselor to deter­mine that the resources are wisely used. Evaluation of the program and the counselor’s performance also involves the principal-Even if the principal is not or will not be an active participant in some as­pect of the guidance program, counselors should work hard to ensure that the principal is “the guidance voice in many chambers.” Principals, by the na­ture of their jobs, interact with other principals, and perhaps with the super­intendent in the district. They may also be part of an administrative council that makes key policy decisions. Principals who support guidance will under­stand it and may work with the counselor on the guidance team, but most of all they will be vocal supporters of the guidance program to all other inside and outside groups. Counselors need to remember that principals wear many hats and that there are many functionaries in the school who want to help them and the teaching staff. The most effective principals will be able to separate the contributions of the various specialists to meet the school goal of optimum student learning.

Teachers

Next to counselors, teachers are the most critical element in the implementation of a comprehensive guidance program. Their position in the classroom is such they are a significant, and at times the most significant, adult to promote learning and positive self-development in students. Teacher effectiveness clearly related to how open teachers are to individual needs of children and how highly they value the overall development of their student. At best, non-guidance-oriented teachers will only minimally participate the guidance program; at worst, they may present serious hindrances.

Without teacher involvement, developmental guidance is simply one more good, but unworkable, concept. Teachers must see the importance of positive student self-images and respect individual student differences to be come actively involved with the guidance program. Teachers are the first line of defense in the identification of special needs, the key advisors to children and the best hope of providing personalization of learning. They are learning monitors and work closely with parents on academic matters. At times teachers will refer children who need special help to the counselor. Other times, teachers and counselors will become a joint exploration team to try and discover ways to help the child without removing him or her from the classroom. Here again, counselors must speak with teachers, not to them. Teacher involvement in any guidance activities is directly related to their per­ception of the value of the guidance program and the competence of the counselors.

School Psychologists and School Social Workers

School psychologists have been labeled as diagnostic experts for decades, but some school psychologists view the development of elementary guidance as a direct invasion of “their” territory. This may be especially true in schools where the major focus of elementary and middle school guidance is problem-centered intervention.

In general, school psychologists are equipped, or should be equipped, to provide intensive individual and group counseling for children with serious concerns. They are also prepared to serve as referral agents for children who need the services of a mental health agency or the specialized help of a clini­cal psychologist or psychiatrist Myrick (1987) also notes that the school psy­chologist should “organize, lead, and take an active role in child study teams, particularly those staffing regarding exceptional children, and their educational placement (i.e. P.L. 94-142)” (p. 49).

Clearly, from a guidance perspective, work with children with major problems and individual and group therapy (as opposed to individual and group counseling) are the domain of the school psychologist. Some school psychologists, however, reject the notion that therapy of any kind should be provided by schools. In addition, some school psychologists are developmentally oriented, are prepared in programs similar to those that prepare school counselors, and state that their major role is working with the “normal and less troubled child.” One may see why the good interaction among profes­sionals suggested earlier may be necessary. In some schools there may not be a school psychologist; in some communities, there may not be any mental health agencies. If so, the counselor may be the only trained person available to work with some troubled children.

Social Workers

Historically most social workers have worked with needy families and have coordinated guidance activities between the school and home. In addition they have served as a liaison between the school and public health and reha­bilitation agencies. These professionals have also studied individual students and their family situations. In this work they provide some information tha¹ may be appropriate for guidance and counseling intervention (Myrick, 1987).

Social workers have always been perceived as individuals who may be school based, but who work mainly outside the school with needy and troubled families. They tend to be well prepared in case study approaches and can gather and provide valuable information that may be of use in developing the guidance program.

In general, the roles of social workers and counselors have not experienced as much overlap as have the counselor-psychologist roles. However, social workers also see elementary and middle school guidance as being in direct competition with what they do, even when the differences in goals and process may be different Some social workers do individual and croup counseling with children and parents. Some work directly with teach­ers in providing information gathered in home visits. In some states, such as Connecticut, social workers were employed by schools long before schools hired counselors.

As with psychologists, social workers have a contribution to make. The specifics of the contribution depend on the availability of other specialists, the history of specialists in a given school district, and the school and com­munity perception of what is wanted from school specialists. In this context, it may not be useful to define the role of other specialists in books designed to be read by counselors. Rather it is essential that counselors begin and maintain a continued dialogue with their peers, both at the build­ing level, and at the level of professional associations. There is much to be done. There is room for all.

DONALD SUPER

An American counselor, working in an office in the United States, helps a foreign student returning home think through career plans. The same American counselor is sought out by a colleague who, having married a foreigner, is contemplating moving to the spouse’s country to pursue a career there. Another American counselor employed in an overseas setting counsels a local student about a career in that country. This same American counselor talks with a local adult about a possible career in the United States. All of these situations, and others such as those in which foreign counselors work in the United States, involve cross-cultural counseling.

As a teaching and researching professor in France, I found that despite my own six years of secondary education in French schools and despite so complete an assimilation of the French culture in my teens that I dream of my adolescence in French, 1 was hesitant to counsel students or adults who sought my advice or counsel in France later when I lived and worked there. Four years of higher education in England had done a good deal to Anglicize me. Information about my field of psychology in France, the United Kingdom, and certain other Eu­ropean countries as well as in North America seemed to me to be within my competencies. I had their journals, knew many of the relevant people in my specialty, had lectured in their universities, and was familiar with their languages. Information about careers in the United States, if emigration was being consid­ered, was also my domain, for I had ample American experience and the usual American publications on careers. However, I believed that I did not know the current labor market well enough in Europe nor did I know enough about the occupational mores to counsel about career development in France or England. For example, it was well known that clinical psychologists in French hospitals worked only as psychological examiners under close medical supervision, and that there were many non-medical psychoanalysis and many .graphologists who had substantial private practices, but I knew little about their training, their professional affiliations, and their career patterns. I knew that vocational coun­selors who took my courses in Paris had two years of professional postgraduate training but no training in interviewing and counseling except as learned by them in their internships. But I was not sure that I understood the fine points of counselor-pupil-parent relationships in a country in which parental roles in de­cision making were prepotent.

These personal experiences in England and France, supplemented by brief periods of consulting and lecturing in Asia, Africa, and South America, bring out the point that in career counseling across cultures a variety of considerations are important: the counselor’s attitude toward the other culture, the nature of the culture itself and particularly the ways in which it differs from that of the counselor, the patterns and determinants of career development in the other culture, and the nature of the labor market in the country in question. It is with these topics that this chapter deals, closing with some thoughts on the implications for training in cross-cultural career counseling. Interest in these issues being new, most of what follows is based on experience and observation rather than on research. Perhaps this volume will inspire people to carry out the needed studies.

THE COUNSELOR’S ETHNOCENTRISM

Schoolchildren in the United States learn that the first steamboat was invented by Robert Fulton and steamed up the Hudson River; their peers in France learn that the first steamer was invented by Michel Papin and steamed down the Rhine one hundred years earlier. The French textbooks are correct (the sailors burned Papin’s primitive steamer to prevent technological unemployment). French chil­dren, on the other hand, have traditionally been taught that French is the most precise language in the world, despite the fact that French editors of international educational and scientific journals recognize that in their bilingual publications it takes more words, with less precision, to state in French what is said more concisely and more precisely in English.

Thus biases are learned early in life, and they are not easily changed. Amer­icans often fail to think of Italian immigrant laborers as potential Michelangelos or Da Vincis. They do-not see a Polish immigrant applying for manual work as a possible Copernicus or Conrad. They do not imagine the Chinese who, with the Irish, laid the rails that spanned the continent as Confuciuses or Sun Yat Sens. The effects of the old biases can determine the counselor’s approach to a client without awareness of what is happening. The biases need to be examined, and they apply to race and to gender as well as to national background.

THE DIMENSIONS OF CULTURE

The dimensions of culture are many. They include the nature and rigidity of the class and caste structure, the value system, the relationship of the individual to the group, and the nature of the enterprise system. They include also the subject of the next section of this chapter, the nature and traditions of career development itself.

The Class Structure and the Opportunity System

It is commonplace that America, as a new country, is the land of opportunity. People in most of the countries of Europe have long viewed this continent as one to which a person could come with few if any resources and make a way, if not to the top, at least to a much better place in life than had been occupied in the old country. Americans, each wave of newcomers as well as those already established in the United States, have expected to make a better life for themselves and for their children. One could go from log cabin to president, as Abraham Lincoln did; from repair shop to great manufacturer, as Henry Ford did; from apprentice to inventor, statesman, and the darling of the French salons, as Ben­jamin Frank! in did—and the examples are not all from the eighteenth and nine­teenth centuries as the Polaroid camera, Beatle music, and the late Grace Kelly have made clear.

Although the Beatles first achieved fame and wealth in Great Britain, and were British, their native country has had a different tradition of social mobility. It might have been written of England that “by their accents ye shall know them,” for Britain has long had an upper-class accent that prevailed at that level across the country and regional accents that grow stronger as one descends the social scale. This fact worked against social and occupational mobility, for it combined with the fact that to learn to speak like “one’s betters” was seen by one’s family and friends as attempting to put on airs. A. B. Hollingshead (1949) documented the fact that, in the American Midwest where he did his study of growing up, the children of the poorest and least well educated tended auto­matically to be shunted, by teachers and by employers, into the lowest-level opportunities available, while the children of the better-established adults were similarly placed in the way of the best opportunities. The saying “they come from a fine (no ‘count) family” is still heard in America, although less frequently. Similarly, labor-dominated British politics have still not eliminated such atti­tudes, even though they are now less often expressed publicly.

American counselors who are visiting, observing, lecturing, counseling, or researching in Great Britain often fail to take the importance of the class system in Britain sufficiently into account. Those who do are nonetheless impressed by the importance of class in that union-dominated country. Students going to universities from working-class families find themselves suffering from anxiety because of the severance of ties with their familial cultures. The sons of unskilled and semiskilled workers in industrial cities find themselves forced, by their peers, to choose between the subcultures of those who cherish the group and reject teachers and work and those who accept the goals set by their middle- or lower-middle-class teachers and work for grades and for advancement.

British sociologists have, for some decades, stressed, and in fact almost im­mortalized, social class and the opportunity structure as determinants of careers. K. Roberts (1981) in particular argued that the British counselors (careers officers and careers teachers) who have been influenced by American self-realization theories and practices are wasting their time and that they would be of more real help to students if they would bend their efforts to helping them make the most of what is available to them. For self-realization Roberts would substitute self-and social-acceptance. There would be, then, no William Morrises of motorcar fame and wealth (Lord Nuffield), and no Margaret Thatchers at 10 Downing Street (she would presumably have married another grocer’s son or perhaps a pharmacist-chemist), unless, of course, they had been moved to rise, as did Lord Nuffield, by the practical route followed by some who did not, like Mrs. Thatcher, have good access to the educational ladder.

In France the class system works differently. The Revolution at the end of the eighteenth century cleared the way for many to rise from humble origins, although most of those who broke through the class barriers were, like Napoleon and Pasteur, from the middle class. What France substituted for the aristocracy of birth was an aristocracy of intelligence. The reformers opened up the schools to all who would and could use them and, using a system of competitive ex­aminations at each level, took the ablest higher and higher and thus into the civil service, the educational network, the professions, or management. Although Britain also relied heavily on competition in education, there the class barriers had not fallen as they had in France, and the language was less standardized.

Illustrations could be drawn, too, from India with its caste system and its classes within castes, from Japan and China with their different cultures, and from Kenya with its yet different complex of tribal mores.

The Individual and the Group

People growing up in the United States are exposed from early childhood to the philosophy and practice of seeking self-actualization. This is not to imply that everyone experiences, in a significant degree, encouragement and oppor­tunity for self-expression and for self-development. The opportunity structure is important here, too, and there are great differences between people, between families, and between subcultures in this country. But a tradition was started by the early settlers from England and France, settlers who sought in a developing land opportunities that they believed did not exist for them in their homelands. The opportunity structure was fed first by the German religious and political groups who came here in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; then by the Irish seeking to escape the potato famine and by the Scots displaced from the highlands or seeking better conditions than they had found in Ulster, and then again by the Italian and Polish peasants who knew that farming and con­struction work in North America would offer them more opportunities than they could find in their more stagnant economies. Semiskilled factory workers in Connecticut some years ago, asked what they wanted for their children, replied, “A better life than I’ve had,” and when asked next, “What might that be?” the answer was, “I don’t know—they’ll have to decide that themselves.”

The strength of this tradition is such that it is easy for Americans to assume that the same motivation exists, in about the same degree, in other cultures. But Americans, except for Native American Indians or the descendants of imported blacks, are descendants of people who had the initiative to leave what they had and to strive for something better. As one American who went back to the village from which his ancestors had come put it, “Thank heavens for John James, who got up and went!”

In some countries the interests of the individual are subordinate to those of the parents and the parental family. The occupations to be pursued by the children are determined by family needs as seen by the parents. This is often observed in African and Asian cultures. Even in France, whose culture was also the “born-free” culture of the Swiss Jean-Jacques Rousseau in neighboring Geneva, it is the family that plays the principal role in the educational and vocational coun­seling that is carried on by the school counselors. In some cultures, as in Japan, the parents play a key role up to a certain age, at which time the school, university, or company for which the individual works becomes the decision maker in the shaping of careers. In others, as in the communistic West African country of Benin, it is the state that opens or closes the doors of opportunity in the school •system and in the world of work, using what is deemed to be the interest of the state in routing pupils and entrants into the labor force one way or another (Super, 1983).

Personality theory : From everyday observations to systematic theories

Chapter Focus

My friend is not very self-confident. She’s my friend but she always tries to show that she’s better by trying to take my boyfriends away from me. She’s a fake friend, obviously. She could be fun to hang out with, until there is a guy on the way. She would try to do everything to show that she’s better, because, really, she’s got low self-esteem. She always has to have a guy by her side, to feel good. Otherwise she feels worthless.

This person I know is extremely insecure about himself. This insecurity has embodied itself in bizarre behavior patterns, which ultimately describe a sad, paranoid soul who has undergone many hardships, not necessarily digesting the origin of such mishaps. Instead of recognizing himself as the instigator he has chosen to blame others for his actions.

I can be selfish, but I believe it is because I try to be perfect. Perfect in the sense I want to be an “A” student, a good mother, a loving wife, an excellent employee, a nourishing friend. My significant other thinks I try too hard to be “Mother Theresa” at times—not that that is a bad thing. But I can drive myself insane at times. I have led a hard childhood and adulthood life, therefore I believe I am trying to make up for all the bad times. I want to be productive, good — make a difference in my world.

I’m a real jackass. I’m intelligent enough to do well in school and study genetics, but have no idea when to shut up. I often am very offensive and use quite abrasive language, although I’m shy most of the time and talk to few people. I’m sarcastic, cruel, and pompous at times. Yet I’ve been told that I’m kind and sweet; this may be true, but only to those I deem worthy of speaking to with some frequency. I’m very fond of arguing and pretty much argue for fun.

My friend is an outgoing, fun-to-be-with person. Although when he feels that something is not right, I mean according to his standards, he is a perfectionist in an obsessive manner. If he feels that someone is not capable of completing a job he takes over and does it himself. Behind, closed doors his temper is unbelievable, loud, and never happy. In a social environment he is Mr. Happy-Go-Lucky.

This person is shy at times. They tend to open up to some people. You never know when they’re happy or sad. They never show their real feelings and when they do it’s so hard for them. ‘I ‘hey did have. a trauma experience that closed them up—where they seem to be afraid to let their real self show. They are funny and do have a lot of fun and die fun to be around but at times it’s hard to know if they’re really having a. good time. The person is loved by a lot of people, and is an extremely giving person, but they don’t like “seriousness.”

These sketches were not written by professional psychologists or by advanced students in the field. They were written by people just like you: students enrolled in a course on the psychology of personality, who were writing on the very first day of class. When we, the authors of the authors of this textbook, teach this course, we commonly begin by asking class members to describe their own personality, as well as that of a friend. Students’ descriptions are insightful and richly detailed so much so that” one is forced to ask: Is the class filled with “personality theorists”?

In a sense, the answer to this question is “yes.” We are all personality theorists. We all spend countless hours asking questions about ourselves (“Why am I depressed?” “Why do I become so anxious when I have to speak in public?”) and other people (“Why are my parents so weird?” “If I introduce Maria to Mike, will they hit it off?”). In answering these question, we develop ideas rich, complex, sophisticated ideas—about why people act the way they do. We develop our own theories about personality.

The fact that we think so much about people raises an important point for you to consider now, at the outset of your course in personality psychology. The point is the following: You already know a lot about the subject matter of this course. You probably know more about the subject matter of this class, at its very beginning, than you do about any other course you could possibly take in college. By comparison, imagine what would happen if a professor in a different course asked students to do what we ask to write a description of the courses main subject matter on the first day of class. Consider a math history, or chemistry course: “Please describe integral calculus.” “Outline the causes of the Bolshevik Revolution.” “Describe your favorite chemical bond.” Such requests would be absurd. While these courses are designed to introduce you to the subject matter, this course is different. Personality “needs no introduction.” You already know, and can describe in detail, a great many “personalities.” You have ideas about what makes people tick and how people differ from one another. You use these ideas to understand events, to predict future events/and to help your friends handle the stresses, bumps, and bruises of life. You already possess, and use, your own theory of personality.

“But”—you may be asking yourself—”if I already know so much about personality, why should I take this class? What can I learn about personality from professional personality psychologists? What are the personality theorists who are discussed in this book accomplishing that I’m not?” This chapter addresses these questions. Specifically,;: introduces the field of personality psychology by considering three questions:

Questions to be addressed in this chapter

1. 1. How do the scientific theories of personality psychology differ from the ideas about persons developed by ordinary people in their daily life?

2. Are there basic areas of human functioning that we would expect a theory of personality to cover? Put differently, which questions concerning human functioning puzzle us and for which questions do we want a theory of personality to provide answers?

3. Since there exists more than one theory of personality, are there broad issues on which the theories differ (e.g., issues such as the fundamental nature of humans, the importance of genes versus experience, the importance of the unconscious)?

The phrasing of these questions provides a preview to their answers. On the one hand, there are similarities between our everyday thinking about people and the activities of the scientist who studies them for a living. Both the layperson and the scientist want to know why people do what they do, how people differ from one another, and how one can predict people’s reactions to important life events. Phrased more formally, both the layperson and the scientist want to develop a model of human functioning, to use the model to describe individual differences, and to use the models of human functioning and individual differences to predict people’s behavior.

On the other hand, there is a big difference between your intuitive theories about personality and the activities of the personality psychologist. The psychologist is charged with developing a scientific theory. This, in essence, means three things. The first involves scientific observation. Unlike you in your daily life, the psychologist cannot be content with learning about people merely by observing a small set of friends and acquaintances. Instead, the personality psychologist must develop formal, objective ways of learning about the psychological makeup of a diversity of people. These scientific observations may sometimes reveal surprising facts about human nature that violate your intuitions—and those of the psychologist! The other differences involve theory. The second difference, then, is that the psychologist’s theory must be formulated in a very systematic manner. The assumptions of the theory must be articulated, its terminology must be defined clearly, and the relations among the different parts of the theory must be spelled out. Third, the psychologist’s theory must be testable. If you tell a friend that “my parents are weird,” your friend is not likely to say “Prove it!” But the scientific community says “prove it!” any time a scientist says anything. The personality psychologist, then, must develop theoretical ideas that can be evaluated by objective scientific evidence. In personality psychology, this can be extremely difficult. This is because the field’s subject matter includes features of mental life— goals, dreams, wishes, impulses, conflicts, emotions, unconscious mental defense;—that are enormously complex and difficult to study scientifically.

The fundamental challenge for the personality psychologist, then, is not only to say something interesting and insightful about people. It is to develop a theoretical framework for learning about people that is scientifically credible and testable. This is what distinguishes the ideas of the personality psychologist from those of the poet, the playwright, the pop psychologist—or the student writing personality sketches on the first day of class. All these people may provide insight into the human condition. But the personality psychologist is; uniquely charged with the task of developing a comprehensive, scientifically testable theory of human nature and individual differences. Because this task is so difficult, much of our coverage is devoted, to questions about how scientists develop theories of personality and how you can evaluate the theories they have developed. Specifically, this chapter focuses on what a personality theory is: what topics a theory of personality should include and what functions it should serve. At the end of the chapter, we preview the personality theories that we will discuss in detail in later chapters. The material in this chapter as well as Chapter 2, provides intellectual tools that you can use to evaluate the personality theories you will learn about throughout your course.

WHY STUDY PERSONALITY?

Why should you take a course in personality? Why are some people so taken by the field that they decide to become personality psychologists? A basic attraction of the field is that it addresses the question; “Why are people the wav they are? Why am I the way I am?” We are all fascinated by such questions, and personality psychology promises to answer them. Admiuecily, this text and thr scientific field it reviews may not definitively answer all of your questions. Yet much scientific progress has been made in understanding persons and the differences among them. This book will introduce you to some of the answers that contemporary scientific research can provide, while also introducing you to the best and most influential theoretical frameworks that have been developed for studying people.

Students taking an introductory course in psychology—the typical “Psych 101″_often are dismayed. In that course, the field of psychology does not seem to be about whole, intact people. Instead one learns about “pans of people” (the visual system, the autonomic nervous system, long-term memory, etc.) and some of the ‘hings people do (learning, problem solving, decision making, etc.). “But where in psychology”, one reasonably might ask, “does one learn about the whole, intact person”? The answer is here, in the psychology of personality. Personality theorists address the total person, and try to understand how all the different aspects of an individual’s functioning are intricately related to each other. For example, personality research is not the study of perception, but it does address how individuals differ in their perceptions and how these differences relate to those individuals’ total.functioning. The study of personality, then, focuses not only on psychological processes but on the – relations among these processes. Understanding how these proceses interact to form an integrated whole often involves more than understanding each of them separately. People function as organized wholes, and it is in the light of such organization that we must understand them (Magnusson, 1999) A key reason for studying personality psychology, then, is that it is the subfield of psychology that most directly addresses that most complex and interesting of topics: the whcle, integrated, coherent, unique individual.

There is ye; another reason for learning about the material in this course. The personality theories we will discuss have been influential not only \vithin the confines of scientific psychology. They have influenced society at large. The ideas of the personality theorists have become part of the intellectual tradition of the past century. As such, these ideas already have influenced your own thinking, prior to your even taking this course. You already may say that someone has a big “ego,” may call a friend an “introvert,” or may believe that a seemingly innocuous sl’p of the tongue actually reveals something about the under-^”-ng motives of the speaker. If so, you already are using some of the language and ideas of the personality theorists. This course, then, provides insight into some of the foundations of your own ways of thinking about people—ways of hinking that you have acquired by living in a culture that, to at least a small egree’ has been influenced by the work of the personality theorists.

To summarize, the scientific study of personality directly addresses the question of why we are the way we are. L:.’:c yourself, the personality theorist grapples with the potentially bewildering complexity of people and the differences among them. Unlike you, the personality theorist tries to create a systematic framework that can be tested scientifically. The scientific challe-^ge is to son through ail the complexity and to identify meaningful relationships among psychological processes that can form the basis of a theory of personality that is scientifically sound and socially useful. The challenge and importance of this task attracts us—and, we hope, you too—to the study of personality.

DEFINING   PERSONALITY

The field of personality addresses three issues that sometimes are difficult to         reconcile: (1) Human Ur’versals, (2) Individual Differences, and (3) Individual, Uniqueness. In studying universals, one asks: What is generally true of people? What are universal features of human nature and basic operating principles of personality? Regarding the second issue, individual differences, the questions are: How do people differ from one another? Are there basic categories or dimensions of individual difference.’;? Finally, regarding uniqueness, the primary questions are: What makes people unique? How can one possibly explain the uniqueness of the individual person in a lawful scientific manner? Personality psychologists address dozens of more specific questions—Why do some achieve and others not7 Why do some perceive things in one way and others in a different way? Why do some suffer from considerable stress and others not?—but all of these specific issues are addressed in terms of overarching Questions about universal properties of personality, individual differences, and the uniqueness of the individual.

Given this three-part focus, how are we to define “personality”? Many words have multiple meanings, and “personality” is certainly no exception. Different people use the word in different ways. In fact, there are so many different meanings that one of the first textbooks in the history of the field (AUport, 1937) devoted an entire chapter merely to the question of how the • word “personality” can be denned!

Philosophers ;each us that if one wants to know ‘.’.'hat a word means, one should see how me word is used (Wittgenstein, 1953). Different people use the word “personality” in different ways. The general public often uses the term to represent a value judgment: If you like someone, it is because he or she has a “good” personality or lets of personality” A boring person has “no personality.” Personality scientists, however, use the word differently. The scientist is not trying to provide subjective value judgments about people. He or she is trying to advance objective scientific inquiry into persons. A scientific definition of personality tells us what areas sre to be studied and suggests how we might best study them.

For the present, let us use the following working definition of personality:

Personality refers to those characteristics of the person that account for consistent patterns of feeling, thinking, and behaving. This is s. veiy broad definition , that allows us to focus on many differeni aspects of the person. At the same time, it suggest; that we attend to consistent patterns of behavior and to qualities inside the person that account for these regularities, as opposed, for example/to looking exclusively at qualities in the environment that accountr such regularities. The regularities of interest to us include the thoughts, f elines. and oven (observable) behaviors of people- Of particular interest to is how these thoughts, feelings, and overt behaviors relate to one another, or cohere, to form tile unique, distinctive individual.

Although one definition of personality has bf’.n su{‘””sied here, others are nossibls. Alternative definitions should not be construed as right or wrong; rather, they may be more or less useful in directing us to important areas of understanding. Thus, a definition of personality is useful to the extent that it helps advance the field dS a science. To summarize, the scientific exploration of personality involves systematic efforts to discover and explain regularities in the tlioughts, feelings, and overt behaviors of people as they lead their daily lives. Personality scientists try to develop theories that enable one to understand tliese regularities. One hopes that these theories also can be used to benefit human welfare. It is to the nature of such theories of personality thai we now turn.

PERSONALITY THEORY AS AN ANSWER TO  QUESTIONS OF WHAT, HOW, AND WHY

Now that we have provided a definition of personality, we can consider some new questions. They concern the goals of theorizing. When developing a the- on’ of personality, what goals is the theorist trying to achieve? What questions yu^ is the personality theorist trying to answer? What do we seek to explain with , a theory of personality?

If we study individuals intensively, we want to know what they are like, how they became that way, and why they behave as they do. Thus, we want a theory to answer the questions of what, how, and why. The “what” refers to the characteristics of the person and how these characteristics are organized in relation to one another. Is the person anxious, persistent, and high in need for achievement? If so, are they anxious and persistent because they are high in need for achievement? Or are they persistent and high in need for achievement because they are anxious? The “hsw” refers to the determinants of a person’s personality. How did genetic influences contribute to the individual’s personality? Hov.- did environmental forces and social learning experiences contribute to the person’s development? How did biology and environment interact -with each other? How do people, through their own choices and efforts, contribute to their own . personalliy development? The “why” refers to the reasons for the individual’s behavior Answers refer to the motivational aspects of the individual—why he or she moves at all. and why in a specific direction. If an individual seeks to make a lot of money, why was this particular path chosen? If a child does well in school, is’it to please parents, to use talents, to bolster self-esteem, or to compete widi peers? Is a mother overprotective because she happens to be affectionate, because she seeks to give her children what she missed as a child, or because she seeks to avoid any expression of the resentment and hostility she feels toward the child? Is a person depressed as a result of humiliation, because of the loss of a loved one, or because of a feeling of guilt? A theory should help us understand to what extent depression is characteristic of £ person, how this personality characteristic developed, why depression is experienced in specific wcumstances, and why the person behaves in a certain manner when depressed, (f two people tend to be depressed, why does one go out and h’iv things whereas the other withdraws into a shell?

In answering the questions of what. how, and why, there are four areas that a personality theory should cover. These are (1) Structure—the basic un;is or building blocks of personality; (2) Process—the dynamic aspects of personality, including motives; (3) Growth and Development—how we develop into the unique person each of us is; and (4) Psychopathology and Behavior Change-how people change and why they sometimes resist change or are unable to change. Consideration of each of these four areas is necessary to obtain comprehensive answers to questions about the what, how, and why of personality

STRUCTURE

The concept of personality structure refers to stable or enduring aspects of personality. People possess psychological qualities that endure from day to day and from year to year. The enduring qualities that define the individual and distinguish individuals from one another are what the psychologist refers to as personality structures. In t;iis sense, they are comparable to parts of the body, or to concepts such as atoms and molecules in physics. They represent the building blocks of personality theory.

Units “f Analysis

Theories can be compared in terms of the structural concepts they use to address the what, how, and why of personality. As you will see throughout this text, different types of structural concepts have been developed by different personality theorists to conceptualize the enduring qualities of personality. Another way of saying this is that different theories of personality feature different kinds of basic variables, or different units of analysis. Different units of analysis may each be “correct,” in their own way Yet each may provide different types of information about an object. For example, you may now be sitting in a chair. The chair could be described as weighing X number of pounds, as costing Y number of dolb.rs, or as being moderately “well made.” Each of ;hesc units of analysis—pounds, dollars, degree of “well made”—tells us something about the chair. The ihings they tell us may be systematically related;

poorly made chairs may weigh and cost less. Yet the units of analysis are conceptually distinct. Similarly, different theories of personality use conceptually distinct units of analysis to conceptualize the structure of personality.

One unit of analysis that has often been used to describe personality structure is that of a personality trait. A trait construct refers to the consistency of an individuals responses to a variety of situations. A person who consistently acts in a way that we call “conscientious” might b? said to have the trait of “conscientiousness.” Used in this way, trail constructs approximate the kind of concept the layperson uses to describe people. One way to think about traits is to coiisider how you would describe someone you have met recently. You might describe them with adjectives such as “outgoing,” “honest,” “disagreeable,” or “open-minded.” In using any of these adjectives, you implicitly would be saying that the individual is, relatively consistently, more “outgoing,” “honest,” “disagreeable,” or “open-minded” than the average person. You would be using these trait terms in a manner that’s very similar to that used by many personality trait theorists. Trait variables are almost always thought of as continuous dimensions; people have more or less of a given trait, with most people h-ini in the middle ana some people falling loi^ard eilher extreme.

The concept of type refers to (he clustering of many diti’ercnl trails. Comparer! to the trail concept, “hat of type iniplies u greater degree of regularity and generality to behavior. Although people can have many traits to varying degrees, they are generally described, by psychologists using type constructs, as belonging to a specific tvpe. For example, individuals have been described as being introverts or extroverts, and in ‘erms of whether they move toward, away from, or against others (Homcv, 1945). More recently, some researchers have explored combinations of personality dimensions and suggested that there are three types of persons:

people who respond in a resilient manner to psychological’stress, people who respond in a manner that is socially inhibited or emotionally overconirolled, and people “.’ho respond in an uninnibiied or undercontrollcd manner (Asendorpf, Caspi, & Hofslee, 2002). Psychologists interested in the development of personality in childhood have suggested that child-parent relations can be understood as consisting of three or four distinct types (Bakermans-Kranenburg & Van Ijzendoom, 1993). The key notion associated with a type construct that makes it dilterent than a trait construct is tliat alternative types are seen as qualitatively distinct catenories. In other words, people of one versus another type do not sim-piv have more or less of a given characteristic, but have categorically different characteristics. This is most easily explained with an analogy outside of psychology Height clearly is not a type variable. Even though we call some people “tall” and others “short,” we recognize these words do not identify distinct categories of people. Instead, height is a continuous dimension. In contrast, biological sex if- categorical. Unlike “tall” and “short,” “man” and “woman” identify’ qualitatively distinct categories of persons.

It is possible to use concepts other than trait or type to describe personality structure and the organization among structures of personality. Personality can be viewed as a system, that is, as a collection of highly interconnected parts that work together to produce the phenomenon we call “personality functioning.” Some personality theorists posit a relatively simple system in which a small number of basic components have few connections to one another. Other theorists vie’.v personality as a highly complex system in which large numbers of psychological components are intricately linked to one another (Misrhel &Shoda, 1998).

Theorists who view personality as a system recognize that people have distinctive characteristics thai. are wli described by personality trait and type constructs. Ho’”ever, they tend noi to use trait or type concepts as their basic “nits of analysis for explaining a person’s behavior. In these approaches, a term such as “conscientiousness” does not correspond to a structure that a person has; instead, it functions merely as description of what a person does. An analogy may be helpful to understand this reasoning. You may know that the weather in the city of San Francisco is very “pleasant.” But you would not ^y that “pleasantness” is a structural feature of San Francisco in the way that, ‘or example, hills are a structural feature. San Francisco does not “have” hills in the same way that it “has” pleasantness of weather. If we were in the science of meteorology, we would not explain the weather in San Francisco by ^ying that the city “has pleasantness” that caused the pleasant weather. The wm pleasantness is a description of qualities that are explained in terms of a

The four basic personality types

complex system of meteorological forces. Similarly, many personality psychologists would not explain a person’s conscientiousness by saying that the person “has conscientiousness” bui by exploring a system of emotional and thought processes that produce the behavior that we describe as conscientious. The units of analysis in the scientific explanation would be the emotional and thought processe.> and the interconnections among them.

Hierarchy

In addition to the issue of units of analysis, there is another consideration in the study of personality structure. It involves the notion of hierarchy. Some theories of personality view the structures of personality as being organized hierarchically. Some structural units are seen as higher in order, and therefore &s controlling the function of other units. In general, iwo things are related hierarchically if one of them is an example of the other or ssrv&i the purpose of the other. The relation between “trees” and “plants” is hierarchical in that trees are an example of plants. “Jogging” and “getting in shape” are related hierarchically in ihat jogging serves the purpose of getting in shape (whereas getting in shape does not “serve the purpose of jogging).

Interestingly, the nc:;on of hierarchy can be applied to different types of units of analysis in the study of personality. For example, if one explains personality •n terms of people’s goals, then a hierarchical model would specify broad high-level goals (e.g., be successful, be a good person) :’.',al are associated with more ‘oeciti:, lower- level goals (e.g., get a promotion at work. be kind to strangers;

Carver & Scheier, 1998). There is a hierarchy in that the lower-level goals are simply a way of accomplishing the higher-level aims (e.g., people may help a strager in order to accomplish the goal of being a good person). If one adopts personality trait units, then high-level traits (e.g., extroversion, conscientiousness) would organize narrower, lower-level tendencies (e.g., sociability, punctuality; John, Hampson, & Goldberg, 199l). There is a hierarchy here in that the lower-level traits are simply a way of exhibiting the higher-level characteristics (e.g., being punctual is a way of being conscientious). In contrast, some theorists do not explicitly posit a hierarchy of personality structures. Instead, they see different systems of personality as influencing each other in a n-idtual, back-and-forth manner that is not necessarily hierarchical (e.g., Bandura, 1999).

Personality theories, then, differ in their fundamental building blocks, that is, in the basic units of analysis that they use to describe and explain the enduring psychological attributes that comprise the structure of an individual’s personality.

PROCESS

Just as theories can be compared in their structures, they can be compared in the dynamic motivational concepts they use to account for behavior. These concepts refer to the process aspects of human behavior.

Three major categories of motivational concepts have been employed by personality psychologists: pleasure or hedonic motives, growth or self-actualization motives, and cognitive motives (Pervin, 2003). Pleasure or hedonic motivational concepts emphasize the pursuit of pleasure and the avoidance of pain. There are two major variants of such theories of motivation: tension reduction models and incentive models. One major personality theorist referred to these as “push” or “pitchfork theories” versus “pull” or “carrot theories” (Kelly, 1958). According to tension reduction “pitchfork” models of motivation, physiological needs create tensions that the individual seeks to reduce by satisfying those needs. For example, hunger or thirst creates tension that can be relieved by eating or diinldng. The term drive typically has been used to refer io internal states of tension that activate and direct people toward tension reduction. In contrast wiih such tension reduction models, in “pull” or “carrot” models the emphasis is on end-points, goals, or incentives that the person seeks to achieve. For example, the person rr.ay seek to achieve money, fame, social acceptance, or power. Although here it is the goal that is stressed rather than an internal state of tension, it should be clear that, nevertheless, the pursuit of pleasure is being emphasized, in this case the pleasure associated with achievement of the goal. It is for this reason that incentive theories of motivation as well as tension reduction theories are considered to be hedonic or pleasure-oriented theories of motivation.

_ in contrast with such pleasure-oriented theories, other motivational theories emphasize the efforts of the organism to achieve growth and self-rulfill-ment. According to this view, individuals seek to mature psychologically and realize their potential. The development of the self is paramount, even at the wst of increased tension in simple biological systems.

Finally, in cognitive theories of motivation, the emphasis is on the person’s efforts to understand and predict events in the world. Rather than seeking pleasure or self-fulfillment according to such theories the person has a need for consistency or a need to know. For example, the person may seek to maintain a consistent picture of the self and to have others behave in a predictable way. In this case, consistency and predictability are emphasized even at the price of pain or discomfort. Thus, it is suggested that people at times may prefer an unpleasant event to a pleasant one if the former makes the world seem more stable and predictable (Swann, 1992, 1997).

Personality psychologists ha-.’e devoted their attention to different types of motivational processes at different points in the history of the field (Little, 1999; McAdams, 1999). In the first half of the 20th century, investigators primarily explored tension-reduction and incentive processes. In the middle of the 20th century, researchers began to note that organisms often engi.ge in exploratory activities in which they leam about their environment, even if they are not explicitly rewarded for doing so. Such observations led the psychologist R. W. White (1959) to conceptualize a process in humans called competence motivation, in which people are motivated to deal competently or effectively with the environment. Indeed, as individuals mature, more of their behavior appears to be involved with developing skills for the sake of mastery or for dealing effectively with the environment, and less of their behavior appears to be exclusively in the service of tension reduction. Later in the century, the field of psychology increasingly explored thinking processes, or cognition, and this trend naturally directed the attention of personality psychologists to cognitive motives for consistency and predictability, as well as mental representations of goals that motivate behavior toward anticipated end-points.

M ‘<t o^ie choose among the various theories of motivation: tension reduc-, ‘. .-elf-fulfillment, cognitive/goal? It may be that eac!- of these perspectives ‘-o’tiires an aspect of human motivation. People are biologically and psycho-’ “J ‘-a’iv complex. They may “ossess multiple motivational systems thai come ‘ [o olay under different conditions. Sometimes people seek pleasure, sometimes personal growth, and sometimes cognitive consistency and predictability. Different motivational theories, then, may capture different aspects of human rnotivaiion. Contemporary psychologists recognize this, and often siudy the ways in which different types of motivational processes—some involving emotional impulses, others involving rational thought—combine to influence psy-choloaical outcomes (e.g., Lowenstein et al., 2001). Nonetheless, as you will see, different personality theories have tended to emphasize one model or another to account for motivational processes. As a result, the different theories of person- .

-iliiv discussed in this book provide distinct portraits of human nature.

GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

One of the most profound challenges facing personality psychologists is to account for personality development, that is, the psychological development of individuals into mature adults who differ from one another psychologically. A primary scientific challenge is to understand the main causes of individual differences. The classic division ^f possible causes separates nature" from "nurture." On the one h?.nd, we may be who we are because of our biological nature, that is, because of biological features that we inheri;ed. On (lie other hand, our personality may reflect our nurturing, that is, our experiences when we were being raised as children. In a joking manner, we might say: If you don't like your personality, who should you blame: Your parents, because of the way they nurtured you? Or your parents, because of the genes they passed on to you that shaped your biological nature?

Psychological research has tended to highlight either nature or nurture as a cause of personality at different points in the field's history. In the middle parts of the 20th century, theorists focused heavily on environmental causes of behavior and devoted relatively little attention to genetic influences. Starting in the 1970s (Loeulin & Nichols, 1976), investigator began systematic studies of similarity in the personalities of twins. As we will discuss in detail in a later chapter, these studies provided unambiguous evidence that inherited factors contribute to personality. In recent years, however, there has been a third trend. Researchers have begun to identify interactions between genetic and environmental factors. They have recognized that nature and nurture are not separate influences. Instead, they are influences that interact dynamically. For example, environmental experiences activate genetic mechanisms so that certain types of experiences can alter the biology of the organism (Gottlieb, 1998). Increasingly, then, both psychologists and biologists (Ehrlich, 2000;

wgorenko, 2002; Lewontin, 2000) recognize that the problem with the traditional nature versus nurture" question was the word "versus." Biological and envircnn-ientai factors are not competing forces, but factors that interact,' ouen ;n complementary ways, in the development of the persons (Plomin, l^, Plomin & Caspi, 1999; Plomin, Chipuer, & Loehlin, 1990; Ridley, 2003). to - 'v^n the established importance of both genetic and environment^ fac-

• the question you might now be asking yourself is: What aspects of personality are affected by what types of biological and environmental influences? This is a big question whose answers are considered lui'oughout this textbook. For now, though, we will provide a quick preview of some of the factors highlighted by contemporary findinos in personality psychology.

Genetic Determinants

Genetic factors play a major role in determining personality and individual differences (Caspi, 2000; Plomin & Caspi, 1999; Rowe, 1999). Scientific advances are beginning to enable the personality psychologist to go beyond this rather general statement, and to pinpoint specific paths of influence. One way to accomplish this is to identify a specific quality of personality that is thought to have a biological basis. Such qualities are often referred to as aspects of temperament, a term that refers to biologically based emotional and behavioral tendencies that are evident in early childhood (Sirelau, 1998). A temperament characteristic that lias been studied in this manner is tearfulness and inhibited behavior in reaction to novel circumstances, such as circumstances involving strangers (Kagan, 1994, 1999). Findings suggest that people differ in the functioning of brain systems in the frontal cortex and lim-bic system that are involved in fear response, and that these biological differences contribute to psychological differences in peoples tendencies to experience fearful, inhibited behavior (Schmidt & t-ox, 2002). Since genetic factors contribute to the development of the brain, this type of analysis enables the personality psychologist to understand links from gene; to biological systems to behavior in a relatively precise manner. An interesting feature of this work is that it also shows that there is a role for the environment in the development of shy versus non-shy behavior. There is some evidence that temperamentally shy children who experience day care, where they encounter large numbers of other children every day, are less likely to remain shy than are children who are raided entirely at home (Schmidt & Fox, 2002).

Another advance in the field integrates work in personality psychology with findings in the field of molecular genetics. Rather than referring merely to the influence of an organism's overall set of genetic material, or the genome, researchers are beginning to identify specific elements of the genome that are involved in the development oi elements cf the nervous systems that affect people's behavior (Plomin & Caspi, 1998). A major focus of investigation is the link from genes to neurotransmitter systems (Grigorenko, 2002), that is, chemicals in the brain through which "eurons communicate with one another. The functioning of neurotransmitters influences brain activity that, in turn, affects people's moods and reacrions-to stimuli in the environment. By linking variations in the genome to variations in these biochemicals, researchers can then begiri to specify exactly how genetic mechanisms influence specific aspects of personality.

Genetic bases of personality also are explored by evolutionary psychologists, that is, psychologists who study the evolutionary basis of psychological characteristics (Buss, 1991, 1995, 1999. 2000; Buss & Kenrick, 199°). According to such psychologists, many patterns of behavio:- reHect our evolutionary heritage. It is obvious that contemporary human beings possess biological mechanisms because those mechanisms proved .successful over the course of evolution. According to evolutionary psychologists, contemporary humans also possess psychological mechanisms that are a product of our evolution. People are predisposed to engage in cenain types of behavior because Determinants of Personality: Genetic differences and different life experiences, both within and outside the family, contribute to personality differences among siblings.

tliose behaviors contributed to survival and reproductive success over the course of human evolution. The merits and limitations of this perspective are discussed in detail in Chapter 9. For now, however, note that an evolutionary analysis of genetic influences differs fundamentally from the analyses reviewed in the two preceding paragraphs. In an evolutionary analysis, investigators are not interested in genetic bases of individual differences. Instead, they are searching for the genetic basis of human ur.lversals, that is, psycho-logical features that all people have in common. Most of our genes are shared. Even so-called "racial differences" involve, merely superficial differences in features such as skin tone; the basic structure of the human brain is universal (Cavalli-Sforza & Cavalli-Sforza, 1995). The evolutionary psychologist suggests, then, that we all inherit psychological mechanisms that predispose us to respond to the environment in ways that proved successful ever the course of evolution. Such responses might come into play when we attract members of the opposite sex, take care of children, act in an altruistic manner toward members of our social group, or respond emotionally to objects and events. Regarding the latter point, there is much evidence that a number of basic emotions (e.g., anger, sadness, joy, disgust, fear) are experienced in the same way across cultures (Ekman, 1992, 1993, 1994; Elfenbein & Ambady, 2002;

Izard, 1991, 1994), as would be expected if these emotions were part of our evolutionary heritage. Cultural influences and social learning play an enormous role in determining exactly what type of events trigger a given emotion. °ut the emotion system itself may still have an evolutionary basis.

Environmental Determinanis

wn tne "^st biologically oriented of psychologists recognizes that the envi-Inent Pisys a critical role in the development of our personalities. If we did

question of "how big a part?" of mental life is explained by evolutionary ancestry (as opposed to social experiences that we have after we are born), as well as questions about the implications of the findings of evolutionary psychology for our understanding of human beings and for the design of social policies to improve human welfare.

In recent years, these issues have been of interest not only to psychologists and other scientists, but to the public at large. In part, this i? due to die writings of Steven P'nkcr, a psychologist at the Mas.>achuseus Institute of Technology., In hL book. The Blank Siste (Pinker, 2002), Pinker suggests that society has been too slow to accept the notion that people are a product of their species' evolutionary

past. People find it pleasant to think that psychological qualities can be changed through new experiences. We hope, for example, that improved parenting, better education, and more enlightened social policies can create a kinder and gentler world—a world with less prejudice and aggression and more tolerance and peace. But, Pinker points out, there might be features .of human psychology that are enormously difficult to change because they are the products of evolution. Those psychological features that proved adaptive over the course of our evolutionary history may be fixed, "hardwired" features of the current human mind. Recognizing the influence of evolutionary factors on the shaping of the mind is, then, key to understanding the basic nature "f human nature. Such an understanding, in turn, may be critical to devising humane, effective social policies, and to recognizing when social policies won't work.

Pinker's analyses currently are a point of controversy in the field of psychology and beyond. Some people outside of psychology feel that Pinker's evolutionary framework explains only very limited -aspects of the human experience. Forexa~iple, in reviewing Pinksr's book in the New Yorkermagazine, the scholar Lou:: Menand (2002) notes that much of human activity seems, completely disconnected from the actions and eveni-s of the evolutionary past. Many people devote much of their time to creating works of art, playing or listening to music, or reading about and developing systems of religion or philosophical thought It is difficult to see how people's propensity to create and appreciate these .novel, imaginative, intellectual products can be explained in terms of evolutionary forces, since during die course of evolution people devoted most of their time to activities directly related to survival and reproduction. Of course, it might be possible for an evolution-•

ary psycholog";' such as Pinker to explain, in retrospect, how evolutionary forces might have supported these complex, crea'ive human capacities. But that brings one to a second concern. Biologists sometimes fault evolutionary psychology for being based on very little firm scientific evidence. Some judge that the evidence on which the arguments of evolutionary psychology are based are "sur-Diisingly unrigorous. Too often, data are

skimpy, alternative hypotheses are neglected, and the entire enterprise threatens to skip into ""disciplined storytelling" (Orr, 2003, p. 18). Evolutionary psychologists may counter that they are still at an early stage of their work, and that future research may confirm their views of human nature.

sources: James (1980); Menanri (2002); On- (2003);

Pinker (2002); Smith (2002).

not grow up in a society with other people, we wo'-ild not even be "persons" in the way in which that term commonly is understood. Our concept of self, our goals in life, and the values that guide us develop in a social world. Some environmental determinants make people similar to one another, whereas others contribute to individual differences and individual uniqueness. The environmental determinants that have proven to be important in the study of personality development include culture, social class. Family, and peers.

Culture Significant among the environmental determinants of personality are experiences individuals have as a result of membership in a particular culture. Each culture has its own institutionalized and sanctioned patterns of learned behaviors, rituals, and beliefs. These culiure practices, which in turn'often reflect long-standing religious and philosophical beliefs, provide people with answers to significant question? about the nature of the self, one's role in one's community, and the values and principles that are most important in life. As -a result, most members of a culture will have certain personality characteristics in common. Interestingly, people often may be unaware of such cultural influences because they take them for granted. For example, people in North America and Western Europe may not appreciate the extent to which their conception of themselves and their goals in life are shaped by living in a culture that strongly values the rights of the individual, and that contains numerous social systems in which individuals compete with one another in an economic marketplace to improve their financial and social status. Since everyone in these regions of the v.'orld experiences these cultural features, we take them for granted and may assume that they are universal. Yet much evidence indicates that people in other regions of the world experience different cul-ura -^s^ures. Asian cultures appear to place a greater value on a person's contribution to his or her community, rather than on individualism and personal gain (Nisbett et al., 2001). In fact, even in the Western world, cultural beliefs about the individual's role in society has changed from one historical period o another. The idea that individuals compete against one another in an economic marketplace in order to improve their position in life is a feature of

-.tempoi-axy Western societies, but U was not evideni in these same societies " the ^dis Ages (Heilbroner, 1986).

vas--. ure'then' may exert an influence w personality that is subtle yet per-thp /e   e cu^tu^e we ^ve In defines our needs and our means of satisfying 'our sxperiences of different emotions and how we express what we are

CHAI'TER ! PI;RSO\AL!T THRORV

(ecling; our rel3tionships with others and wiili ourselves; what we think is funny or sad; how we cope with life and death; and what we view as healthy or sick (Cross & Markus, 1999; Fiske et al.. 1998; Markus & Kitayama, 1991).

Soda! Cfcss Although certain patterns of behavior develop as a result of membership in a culture, others may develop as a result of membership in a particular social class within a given culture. Few aspects of an individual's personality can be understood without reference to the group to which that person belongs. One's social group—whether lower cla's or upper class, working class or professional—is of particular importance. Social class factors help determine the status of individuals, the roles they peiform, the duties they are bound by, and the privileges they enjoy. These factors influence how individuals see themselves and how they perceive members of other social classes, as well as hou' ti: 'y earn and spend n-.oney. Research indicates that socioeco-nomic status influent-OS the cognili"e and emotional development of the individual (Bradley & Corwyn, 2002). Like cultural factors, then, social class factors influence people's capacities and tendencies, and shape the ways people define situations and respond to them.

family Beyond the similarities determined hv environmental factors such as membership in the same culture or social class, environmente.1 factors lead to considerable variation in the personality functioning of members cf a single culture or class. One of the most important environmental factors is the influence of the family (Colliru et ul., 2000; Haiverson & Wampler, 1997; Maccoby, 2000). Parents may be warm and loving or hostile and rejecting, overprotective and possessive or aware of their children's need for freedom and autonomy. Each pattern of parental behavior affects the personality development of the child. Parents influence their children's behavior in at least three important ways:

1. Through their own behavior, they present situations that elicit certain behavior in children (e.g., frustration leads to aggression).

2. They serve as role models for identification.

3. They selectively reward behaviors.

At first, we may think of family practices as an influence that makes family me"ibeis similar to one another. Yet family practices also can create differences witliin a family. Consider differences between male and female family members. Historically, in many societies, male children have received family pp'oleges and opportunities that were unavailable to female children. These differences in how families have treated boys versus giris surely did not make boys and giris similar to one another; they contributed to differences in male and female development. In addition to gender, other family practices that may produce differences between family members involve birth order. Recent findings indicate that parents often express subtle preferences toward first-born children (Keller & Zach, 2002) and that first-born children are more

achievement-oriented and conscientious than later-born siblings (Paulhus, Trapnei, & Chen, 1999).

Pears What environmental features outside of family life are important to personality development? The child's experiences with memhers of his or her peer . group are one feature. Indeed, peer influences are so strong that some psy-

I'EKSuNALITY THEORY AS AN ANSWER TO WHAT. HOW. AND WHY

I pisis-view them as more important to personality development then fam-c"    criences: the psvcSiologist Judith Rich Harris contends that "experi-

' ' - in childhood and adolescent peer groups, not experiences at home. c - 'ml tor environmental influences on personality development. Tlie

•er to the question 'Why are children from the s?rrie farri'ly so different S^orn one another?' (Plornin & Daniels, 1987) is, because they have different --oeriences outside the home and because their experiences inside the home do not make them more alike" (Harris, 1995, p. 481). Thus, v.'ithin-familyvari-

tions in genetic material plus outside-of-family social influences are seen as determining personality in this view.

What is suggested here is that children learn many thiii^s in the home, but these influenrps are specific to the home environment (Harris. 2000). In social settings outside the home, experiences with peers may be a greater influence on personality styles. The peer group serves to socialize the individual into acceptance of new rules of behavior and provides for experiences that will have long-lasting influences on personality development. Consistent with this view, research findings indicate that friendships have relatively specific effects on personality development. Children who experience high-quality friendships may not have a higher overall sense of self-esteem as a result, but they do have more positive social relationships with their peers; on the other hand, children who experience low-quality friendships that involve a lot of arguing and conflict seem to develop disagreeable, antagonistic styles of behavior (Bemdt, 2002).

PSYCHOPATHOLOGY AND BEHAVIOR CHANGE

Constructing a personality theory may strike you as an "ivory tower" activity, iliat is, an abstract intellectual exercise that fails to relate to the important concerns of everyday life. Yet nothing could be farther from the truth. Personality theories are potentially of great practical importance. People often face complicated psychological problems: they are depressed and lonely; a close friend is addicted to drugs; they are anxious about sexual relations; frequent arguments threaten the stability of a romantic relationship. To solve such problems, one requires some sort of conceptual frsmewnrk that specifies causes of the problem and factors that might bring about change. In cth^i-words, one needs a personality theory.

Historically, the practical problems that have been most important to the development of personality theories have involved psychopathology. Many of the theorists discussed in this book were also therapists. They began their Careers by trying to solve' practical problems they faced when trying to help their clients. Their theories were, in part, an attempt to systematize the

lessons about human nature that they learned by working on practical prob-'ems in therapy.

Not all personality theories had clinical origins, iiome theories began with "^er forms of data about personality, as v.'c will discuss in Chapter 2 onetheless, the ability to benefit people experiencing psychological distress a crucial "bottom line" that can be used to evaluate any and all personality eorifcs. A complete theory of personality must include analyses of why some People are capable of coping with the Stresses of daily life and generally expe-ce Psychological well-being, whereas others experience frequent psycho-

CHAPTER I PERSONALITY THEORY

logical distress and poor pattenis of coping. The theory should also suggest techniques for modifying pathological forms of behavior.

We have just iwiewed four topic areas that are addressed in the study of personality: (1,1 personality structure, (2) personality processes, (3) personality development, and (4) psychopathology and behavior change. Next, we will consider a series of conceptual issues that are central to the field. By "conceptual issues," we mean a set of questions about personality that are so fundamental that they may arise no matter what topic one is addressing. Throughout the relatively brief history cf personality theory, a number of issues have confronted theorists repeatedly (Pen'in, 2002). Tlie ways in which they treat these issues do much to define the major characteristics of each theoretical position. Thus, in reviewing various personality theories we must consider how much attention each theorist gives to these issues and how that theorist resolves each issue.

PHILOSOPHICAL VIEW OF THE PERSON

Personality theorists do not confine themselves to narrow questions about human behavior Instead, they boldly tackle the big, broad question: What is the basic nature of human nature? Personality theorists, in other words, provide philosophical views about the basic nature cf human beings. One critical

thing to consider when evaluating a theory, then, is the overall view of the person that it provides.

Personality theories embrace strikingly different views of the essential qualities of human nature. Some incorporate a view in which people seem like "rational actors." People reason about the world, weigh the costs and benefits of alternative courses of action, and behave based on these rational calculations. In this view, individual differences primarily reflect differences in the thought processes that go into these calculations.

Other perspectwes recognize that humans are animals. The human organism, in ih:s view, is primarily drive." by irrational, animalistic forces. Rational thought processes are seen as relatively weak components of personality, compared to powerful animalistic drives.

During the latter decades of the 20th century, a pop'-'.lar view of persons involved a computer metaphor. People were seen as information processors who stored and manipulated symbolic representations of the world. Since people move around in the world, some argued that robots, rather than computers, provide a closer analogy to human nature (Carver & Scheier, 1998).

One should recognize that different views of human nature have arisen in different sociohistorical circumstances. Proponents of different points of view have had different life experiences, and have been influenced by different historical traditions. Thus, beyond scientific evidence and fact, theories of personality are influenced by personal factors, by the spirit of the time, and by philosophical assumptions characteristic of members of a given culture (Pervin, 2002). Although based on observed data, theories selectively emphasize certain kinds .of data and go beyond what is Imown, and therefore can be influenced by personal and cultural factors. To some extent, in developing psy-

1MPORTANT ISSUES IN PERSONALITY THEORY

chological theories we talk about ourselves. In itself this is not a problem. Only when personal experiences become more important than other kinds of experience and ignore research evidence do personal determinants of a theo--_, ^i>rnm{1 n nroblem.

I-,' become a problem

INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL DETERMINANTS Of BEHAVIOR

Is human behavior determined by processes inside the parson or by external auses7 The issues here concern the relationship between, and the relative . ponance of, internal and external determinants. All theories of personality recognize that factors inside the organism and events in the surrounding environment are important in determining behavior. However, the theories differ in the level of importance given to internal and external determinants. Consider the differences in view of two of the most influential psychologists of the 20th century: Sigmund Freud and B. F. Skinner. According to Freud, we are controlled by internal forces that reside primarily in our unconscious minds. According to Skinner, environmental forces are paramount: "A person does not act upon the world, the world acts upon him" (1971, p. 211). In the Freudian view, then, the internal dyn-'.mics of the mind are causally responsible for overt patterns of behavior. To Skinner, the person is a passive victim of events in the environment.

Freud and Skinner represent views that most psychologists now would see as extreme. Virtually all personality psychologists today acknowledge that it is necessary to consider both external and internal determinants of human action. Nonetheless, contemporary theories continue to differ markedly in the degree to which they emphasize one versus the other factor. These differences become apparent when one examines the basic variables—or, as we called them earlier, the basic units of analysis—of a given theory. Consider two perspectives you will read about in later chapters. In trail theories of persondlity, ihe basic units of analysis refer to structures in the person that purportedly are ir.herited and produce highly generalized patterns of behavior (McCrae & Costa, 1999). In social-cognitive theories of personality/the basic units of analysis are knowledge structures and thinking processes that are acquired through interaction with th; social and cultural environment (Bandura, 1999; Mischel & Shoda, 1995). As you can infer from their b=.:ic units, these theories differentially emphasize internal and external determinants of personality.

CONSISTENCYACROSS SITUATIONS AND OVER TIME"    •         "

How consistent is personality from situation to situation? To what extent are -u   e same Person" when with friends as you are with your parents? Or

pers" y^" are at a party versui a classroom discussion? And how consistent is pc onality across time? How similar is your personality now'to what it was

1. ." you were a child? And, how similar will it be 20 years from now? is bee-1'"181 ^ese I""110"5 is m0^ difficult than it ulay appear. In part, this sistpn    one   to aeclde on what counts as an example of personality con-onier^ ^T8 '-'-consistency• One seneraUy needs a theory of personality in twosuw0    decisi011- Consider a simple example. Suppose you have

^ agre^M" at a J 'one male and °ne female, and that you tend to act in •w-eame manner toward one .supervisor and disagreeably toward the

CHAPTCK

PERSONALITY THEORY

other. Are you being "inconsistent" in your personality? If one thinks that a basic lealu'-" of personality is "agreeableness," then the answer is yes. But suppose (his situation were analyzed by a psychologist who adheres to psychoanalytic theory, which su^ge;:; thai. (a) people yuu encounter in your adult life may symbolically represent parental figures, and that (b) a basic personality dynamic involves attraction toward one's opposite-sex parent and rivalry toward the same-sex "arent—something caiied an "Oedipal complex." From this view, you may be acting in a very consistent manner. The different job supervisors may symbolically represent different parental Bgures, and you may be consistently reenacting Oedipal motives that cause you to act in a different manner toward one versus the other person.

Even if people agree on what counts as consistency, they may disagree about (lie factors that cause personality to be consistent. Consider consisten-cy over time. It unquestionably is the case thatjndividual differences are stable, to a significant degree, over long periods of time (Fraley, 2002; Roberts & Del Vecchio, 2000). If you are more extraverted than your friends today, you are quite likely to be more extraverted than these same people 20 years from now. Yet questions may arise regarding why this is the case. One possibility is that the core structures of personality are basically inherited and that they change little across the course of life. Another possibility, however, is that the environment plays a critical role in fostering consistency. Exposure to the same family members, friends, educational systems, and social circumstances over long periods of time may cause consistency in personality (Lewis, 2002). A key implication is that even though personality may tend to be consistent over time, it is not necessarily consistent. Significant changes in life circumstances might bring about significant personality change.

No personality theorist thinks that you will fall asleep an introvert and wake un the next morning an extravert. Yet the field's theoretical frameworks do provide ditferent views on the nature of personality consistency and change, and on people's capacity to vary their personality functioning across time and place. To some theorists, van? tion in behavior is a sign of inconsistency in personal ity. To others, it may reflect a consistent personal capacity to adapt one's behavior to the different requirements of different social situatioi."; (Mischel,

IMPORTANT ISSUES IN PERSONALITY THEOK.1

0-';' Tlie question of consistency, then, is another important issue on wli.ch .^,i'?(-'-nt theoretical positions can be found.

THE UNITY Of EXPERIENCE AND ACTION AND THE CONCEPT Of SEIF

„ psychological experiences generally have an integrated, or coherent, qual-•tv to "them (Ccrvone & Shoda, 1999b). Our actions are patterned and orga-

?ed rather th?n random and chaotic. As we move from place to place, we retain a stab'" sense of ourselves, our past, and our goals for the future. There is a unity to our experiences and action.

Although v.\; take it for granted that our experiences are unified, in some sense this fact is quite surprising. The brain contains a large number of information-processing systems, many of wliich function at tlie same lime, in partial isolation from o;.e another (Pinker, 1997). If we i.-xamine the contents of our own conscious experiences, we will find that most of thoughts cur fleeting. It is hard to keep any one idea in mind for long periods. Seemingly random ideas "pop into our heads." Nonetheless, we rarely experience the world as chaotic or our lives as disjointed. Why?

There are two types of answers to this question. One is that the multiple components of the mind function as n complex system. The parts are interconnected, and the patterns of interconnection enable the multi-part system to function in u smooth, coherent manner. Computer simulations of personality functioning (Nowak, Vallacher, & Zochowski, 2002). as well as neuroscien-tific invesiigations of the reciprocal links among brain regions (Tonini & Edelman, 1998), are beginning to shed light on how the mind manages to pio-duce coherence in experience and action.

The second type of answer involves the concept of the self. Although we may experience a potentially bewildering diversity of life events, we do experience them from a consistent perspective, that of ourselves (Harre, 1998). We are able to construct coherent autobiographical memories, which contribute to coherence in our understanding of who we are (Conway & Pleydell-Pearce, 2000). The concept of the self, then, has proven valuable in accounting for the unity of experience (Baumeister, 1999; Robins, Norem, & Cheek, 1999).

Traditionally, the concept of the self has been emphasized for three reasons. First, our awareness of ourselves represents an important aspect of our phe-

CHAPTER I PERSONALITY THEORY

nomenological or subjective experience. Second, consideraij.'^ research suggests that how we feel about ourselves is not a mere reflection of our life experiences; instead, self-rcferent thought causally influences our behavior (Bandura, 1997). Third, as noted, the concept of the self is used to express the organized, integrated aspects of human personality functioning. In asking whether the concept of the self is necessary, the noted theorist Gordon Allport (1958) suggested that many psychologists have tried ;n vain to account for (lie

integration, organization, and unity of the human person without making use of tlie concept of the self.

Without a concept of self, the theorist is left with the task of developing an alternative concept to express the integrated aspects of human functioning. As^ you will see, some personality theorists have attempted tu conslp^ct theoretical frameworks that contain few if any "self concepts. On (lie other hand, reliance on the concept of the self leaves the theorist with the task of defining self in a way that makes it possible to be studied systematically, rather than leaving it vaguely defined as some strange inner being. Thus, how to account for the organized aspects of personality and the use of the concept of the self in this regard, remains a major issue of concern for personality psychologists.

VARYING STATES OF AWARENESS AND THE CONCEPT OF THE UNCONSCIOUS

Are we aware of the contents of our mental life? Or do most mental activities occur outside of awareness, or unconsciously? On the one hand, a great deai of what the brain does unquestionably occurs without one's awareness. Consider what is happening as you read this book. Your brain is engaging in large numbers of activities ranging from the monitoring of your internal physiological states to the deciphering of the marks of ink that constitute the words o." this page. All this occurs without your conscious attention. You do not consciously have to think to yourself "I wonder if these squiggles of ink form words?" or "maybe I should check to see if sufficient amounts of oxygen are getting to my bodily organs?" The brain does these things automatically. The questions for the personality psychologist, however, are the degree to which significant aspects of personality functioning occur outside of a'-'.'areness and he'* to conceptualize the mental systems that give rise to conscious and unconscious processes (Kihistrom, 1990, 1999; Peivin, 1999, 2003).

The first personality psychologist to provide comprehensive answers to these questions was fraud, whose work we will review beginning in Chanter 3. A gi eat many contemporary psychologists acknowledge that Freud was correct in recognizing that much of mental life is unconscious (Westen, 1998). Yet many are uncomfortable with the details of Freud's account of the unconscious. Contemporary research has revealed that a much wider array of activities than Freud envisioned can occur without conscious awareness (Kihistrom, 1999).

The fact that many mental activities can occur outside of awareness does not imply that the most significant of personality processes involve uncon-,-scious thought People engage in much selT-reflection. They are particularly likely to reflect on themselves when they face life circumstances of great importance, where the decisions that are made (e.g., whether and where to aitend college, whether to marry a person, whether to have children, what profession to pursue) have major long-term cbnsequencss. In these critical cir-

IMPORTANT ISSUES IN PERSONALITY THEORY

cumstances, conscious processes are influential. Thus, many personality psychologists study cc:;;cious self-reflection, even while recognizing that many aspects of mental life occur outside of awareness.

THE INFLUENCE OF THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE ON BEHAVIOR

To what extent are we "prisoners of our past" as opposed, for example, to always bein^ shaped by our view of the future? The issue is the importance of the past, present, and future in governing behavior. Theorists agree that behavior can be influenced only by factors operating in the present; a basic principle of causality is that presently active processes are the causes of events. In this sense, only the present is important in understanding behavior. But the present can be influenced by experiences in the remote past or in the recent past. Similarly, what one is thinking about in the present can be influenced by thoughts about the immediate future or the distant future People "ary in the extent to which they worry about the past and the future. And personality theorists differ in their concern with the past and the future as determinants of behavior in the present.

At one extreme lies psychoanalytic theory, which attaches importance to early learning experiences. At the other extreme lies social-cognitive theory, wliich takes a proactive, agciitic view of personality functioning in which forethought is central to personality functioning, and in which people are seen to have a largs capacity for change (Bandura, 2001). The issue is not whether events that happened in the past can have lasting effects or whether anticipations about the future can have effects in the present (theorists undoubtedly agree that both are possible and occur), but how to conceptualize the role of

past experiences and future anticipations and connect their influence to what is occurring in the present.

CHAPTER 1 PERSONALITY THEORY

CAN WE HAVE A SCIENCE OF PERSONALITY? WHAT KIND OF A SCIENCE CAN IT BE?

A final issue of importance concerns the type of theory of personality that one reasonably can pursue. We have taken it for granted tlius far that one can craft a science of personality, in other words, that it is possible to rse the methods of science to understand the nature of persons. This assumption seems like a safe one. People are objects ;n a physical universe. They consist of biological

systems comprised of physical and chemical parts. Science thus should be able to tell us something about them.

Nonetheless, one can reasonably ask about what type of scientific analysis could apply to the understanding of personality. Much of the progress of science has involved analyses that are reductionistic. A system is understood b)'

reducing a complex whole to its simpler parts, and showing how the parts give rise to the functioning of the whole.

Such analyses work wonderfully when applied to physical systems. A biological system, for example, can be understood in terms of the biochemistry of its parts. The chemistry, in turn, can be understood in terms of the underlying physics of the chemical components. But personality is not merely a physical system. People construct, and respond to, meaning. We assign meaning to the events we experience. We strive to understand ourselves, not just as physical entities but as persons with an identity. There is no guarantee that the traditional scientific procedures of breaking a system into constituent parts will be sufficient to understand these processes of meaning '-onstruction. Indeed, numerous scholars have suggested that they may not, and have warned psychologists against importing the methods of the physical sciences into the study of human meaning systems (Geertz, 2000; Polkinghome, 1988; Taylor, 1989).

To such commentators, the idea that people have "parts" is "at best a metaphor" (Harre, 1998, p. 15). The risk of adopting this metaphor is that, to use a cliche, "the whole may be greater than the sum of the parts." 3y analogy, consider an analysis of a great work of art, such as da Vinci's Mona Lisa. In principle, one could analyze its parts: there's paint of one color over here, paint of some other color there, and so on. But this sort of analysis will not enable one to understand the greatness of the painting. This requires viewing the work as ? whole and understanding the historical context in which ii. was msde. By analogy, a listing of the psychological part; of an actual person may, in principle, leave one lacking a holistic understanding of the individual and the developmental processes that contributed to his or her uniqueness. A final important issue to bear in mind throughout this textbook, then, is whether the

personality theorists are as successful as was daVinci at providing holistic psychological "portraits" of complex individuals.

IMPORTANT ISSUES: SUMMARY

In attempting to account for the what, how, and why of human functioning, personality theorists are confronted with many issues. Seven issues of particular importance have been mentioned here: (1) the philosophical view of the person; (2) the relation between internal (personal) and external (situational) influences in determining behavior; (3) the consistency of personality across situations and over time; (4) the coherence and unity of personality functioning; (5) the role of varying states of awareness and the concept of the unconscious; (6) the role of the past, present, and future in governing behavior; and

EVALUATION OFTHEOR1ES

the promise, and potent...; limits, of a scientific analysis of personality Of irsc, many other issues concern personality theorists and account fordiffer-es ninong them, but the purpose here has been tc point to the main ones. • irnponance of these and other issues will become increasingly clear as we <]Ji;r llie posi”on;> of [lie various lhfnri<n in ihs ,-•„-,.,,„— .1.-- r-r

A< we have noted, a uiiique feature of the scientific field of personality psy- EVALUATION OF chology is that it contains more than one guiding theory. Multiple theories of THEORIES oersonality inform us about human nature and individual differences. A natural Question, then, is how to evaluate the theories, one versus tlie other. How c.-'n one judge (lie strengths and limitations of the various theories? What are llie L.-iieria that should be used to evaluate them?

THE FUNCTIONS Of A PERSONALITY THEORY

To evaluate something, one generally asks what something is supposed to do. One then can judge how well it is doing it. A more formal way to say this is that one asks about the funcuons that [lie entity is supposed to serve. One then evaluate the degree to which it is carrying out those functions.

What, then, are the functions of a personality theory? What is a personality theory supposed to do? Like all scientific theories, theories of personality serve two key functions: (1) they organize existing information, and (2) they foster new knowledge, that is, they contribute to the acquisition of new information that is logically predictable from the theory.

The first of these functions is obvious. Scientific research provides an array of facts about personality personality development, and individual differences, Rather than merely listing these facts in an unordercd manner, it would be useful to organize them systematically. A logical, systematic ordering of facts

- would constitute a useful theory. It would enable one to keep track of what scientists know about personality and thereby to put that knowledge to u«=e.

The second function is somewhst less obvious. A theory should have generative properties; that is, it should help to generate new knowledge. In biology, Darwin's theory of natural selection wa; useful not only because it organized known farts about me world's flora and fauna. Its additional value is that it opened new pathways of knowledge about biology. Similaily, in personality psychology, some theories have proven to be highly generative. They

1. • ave prompted researchers who are familiar with the theory to use its ideas to generate new knowledge about personality. A particularly exciting feature of some personality theories is that they have higr'ighted entirely new areas of study that people might never have thought to investigate were it not for the c0^. Psychodynamic theory opened the door to the possibility that many of ur most ^PQrtant thoughts and emotions are unconscious. Evolutionary Psychology suggests that contemporary patterns of social behavior are not p^ ,   ln s"ciety, but inherited from our ancient ancestors. Behaviorism rais-^ the possibility that actions that we attribute to our free choice, or "free a j are "Itimately caused by the environment. These theories' fascinating valu i"1611'11®5 radical hypotheses about human nature have prompted much e new investigation into human nature.

CHAPTER I PERSONALITY THEORY

COMPREHENSIVENESS, PARSIMONY, AND RESEARCH RELEVANCE

What enables a the:ry to fulfill these functions? What properties of a theory are most important to its ability to organize known facts and to generate new knowledge? Three criteria of particular importance are a theory's comprehensiveness, parsimony or simplicity, and research relevance (Hall & Lindzey, 1957). Theories of personality, then, can be evaluated according to these three criteria: is the theory comprehensive? Does it account for the facts of personality in a simple, parsimonious way? Does its theoretical structure facilitate scientific research on important aspects of personality functioning. The first two criteria, comprehensiveness and parsimony, relate particularly strongly to the first of the two functions of a theory, organizing known facts. Tlie third criterion, research relevance, bears on the second function, the generation of ' new scientific knowledge.

Comprehensiveness

A good theory is comprehensive. That is, it encompasses and accounts for a wide variety of aspects of the psychological life of the individual. It addresses each of the questions outlined earl"'r: the what, how, and why of personality. It addresses the wide range of internal and external determinants of behavior reviewed pre^ously. Although the field of psychological has a large number of theories about specific psychological phenomen?., it has only a relatively few

frameworks with enough comprehensiveness that they even can be called a "theory of personality."

No theory accounts for everything. It is important, then, to ask how many different kinds of phenomena the theory can account for, that is, to ask about the theory's comprehensiveness. The notion of comprehensiveness includes not only the number of issue; that a theory addresses, but their significance. A theory that addressed a wide range of facts but 'hat left out significant topics—e.g., how personality develops—would not be seen as comprehensive.

While asking about comprehensiveness, one also should consider the specificity with which a theory treats the topics of personality. We not only want a theory to cover many different phenomena in a general way, but to be very exact in its cordage. A good theory should specify processes that are involved in personality functioning, and do so in a manner than enables one to make specific predictions about behavior. The concepts of bandwidth and fidelity encompass the criteria under consideration. The concept of bandwidth relates to the range of phenomena covered by ?. theory, what might be called its range of convenience. The concept of fidelity relates to the phenomena to which it is particularly applicable, what can be called its focus of convenience. An analogy may be drawn here to a comparison of radios. A truly excellent radio picks up a wide variety of stations (bandwidth) and receives the signals of each with great clarity (fidelity). Similarly, an excellent theory of personality accounts for a large range of phenomena with great clarity and specificity. However, often we are forced to make a trade-off between bandwidth and fidelity. One radio brings in more signals but with lesser clarity; another radio has great clarity but brings in only a limited number of stations. Similarly, personality theories often are stronger in one characteristic than another, covering a broader range of phenomen?. at a lesser degree of specificity or a narrower range of phenomena at & greater degree of specificity. Thus, although recognizing that both

EVALUATION OI-'THEORn-;;

mnrehensiveness and specificity—bandwidth and fidelity—are desirable, we co ct at times be prepared to consider tradr-offs between the two.

porsimony

,1 _g ,.vjtii being comprehensive, a theory should be simple and parsimo-ious. It should account for varied phenomena in an economical, internally onsistent way. This is true of theories throughout the sciences. A remarkable Feature of Newton's theorizing in physics, for example, is that it is relatively simple. Rather than providing a complex theoretical system in which different laws of motion were used to account for the behavior of different objects, Newton succeeded in providing universal laws that could describe the motion of everything ranging from small objects to large planets. Similarly, the personality psychologist seeks a simple theory, tliat is, a theory that can account for a wide range of psychological issues via a relatively small set of principles. As you will see, this goal was achieved admirably by many of the theorists you will leam about in this book.

The two goals of simplicity and comprehensiveness raise a question of the appropriate level of organization and abstraction of a personality theory. As theories become more comprehensive and parsimonious, they tend to become more abstract. Therefore it is important that, in becoming abstract, theories retain concepts that relate clearly to the behavior studied. In other words, fuzzy or unclear concepts should not be the price paid for a theory becoming more parsimonious.

Research Relevance

Finally, a theory is not true or false, but useful or not useful. A good theory has research relevance in that it leads to many new hypotheses, which can then be confirmed through systematic research. It has what Hall and Lindzey (1957) called empirical translation: It specifies variables and concepts in such a way that there is agreement about their meaning and about their potential for measurement. Empirical translation means that the concepts in a theory are clear, explicit, and lead to the expansion of knowledge; they must have predictive power. In other words, a theory must contain testable hypotheses ^bout relationslups among phenomena. To the degree that it does contain them, it is better able to perform the second function of a personality theory. namely, generating new knowledge about persons.

The quality of being testable may strike you as being so obvious that it perhaps need not be stated. Of course a theory should be testable; if it is not, it does not even qualify as a scientific theory. All the theories we will discuss are testable, and have been subjected to many tests. Yet the theories do differ in ws degree to which they are open to negative tests, that is, procedures that Potentially could show a feature of a theory to be inaccurate. Consider an idea of Sigmund Freud's, namely that the contents of dreams are fulfillments of Unconscious wishes. It is clear what a positive test of the theory would be: One ^'nalyzes a dream until one discovers an unconscious wish. But it is difficult. 0 specify a negative test. If one does not discover an unconscious wish that is "sing fulfilled, a Freudian might not agree that the theory has been disproven. nstead, he or she might contend that the wish is really there, but that it is so "TOatic that it is buried deep in the unconscious. Once one allows for this

CHAPTER 1 PERSONALITY THEORY

reasoning, it is difficult to subject this aspect of psychoanalytic theory to a negative test.

EVALUATION OF THEORIES: SUMMARY

The criteria of comprehensiveness, parsimony, and research relevance provide the basis for a comparative evaluation of theories of personality. In comparing theories, however, we can ask two questions: Do they address themselves to the same phenomena? Are they at the same stage of development? Two theories that deal with different kinds of behavior may each be evaluated in relation to these three criteria. Nevertheless, we need not choose between the two theories; each can be allowed to lead to new insights, with the hope that at some point both can be integrated into a single, more comprehensive theory. Finally, a new and immature theory may be unable to account for many phenomena but may lead to a few important observations and show promise of becoming more comprehensive with time. Such a theory may be unable to explain phenomena considered to be understood by another established theory, but may represent a breakthrough in significant areas formerly left untouched. It is like having a new idea, one that needs to be tested further but which seems to explain phenomena formerly puzzling or unaccounted for. As you will see, some of the theories that we will discuss have been around for more than a century, whereas others are much newer and therefore still in a state of theoretical development. An exciting aspect of personality psychology is that, compared to a field such as physics, we are still in a relatively early stage of the discipline's history. One can observe important ideas currently taking shape. Those of you who choose to go into the field have the opportunity to contribute directly to the development of a science of personality.

THE PERSONALITY     We have now reviewed a series of points: topics that must be addressed by a THEORIES: AN        personality theory; important issues that arise as one confronts these topics;

INTRODUCTION       an<^ criteria that can be used to evaluate a theory of personality. Now, in the final section of this chapter, we turn tc' the theories themselves.

THE CHALLENGE Of CONSTRUING A PERSONALITY THEORY

Even a brief reflection on the issues we have reviewed thus for will make it clear that someone who wishes to construct a comprehensive theory of p"r-sonality faces an extremely difficult task. The theory must address an exceptionally wide range of issues. It must incorporate a broad range of determinants of personality development and functioning. The theory must be consistent with evidence ranging from the study of individual differences in genetic mechanisms to cultural variations in social practices. The ideal personality theorist would be a master of all trades.

Do we have this ideal? Is there a single person who has managed to construct a theory that is so comprehensive in its scope, and so consistent with the entire range of scientific evidence, that it is accepted universally? The answer, quite simply, is no. There exist different theoretical frameworks. Each has its strengths, and each its limitations. More importantly, each has its

THE PERSONALITY THEORIES: AN INTRODUCTION

• ne virtues; in other words, each of a varie;y of theories provides some "  ue 'nsight5 into h""13" nature, where those insights also are supported by u • nrific evidence. It is for this reason that this textbook is organized around ^onaliiv theories—plural.

At first, His ^acl ll1''11)'0" wl^ b-'learr'-'g about multiple theories in a course ,l,g psychology of personality might seem odd. Most other scientific disciplines are not presented as a series of theories. If you are taking a course in chemistry or physics, your textbook for that class probably is not organized around distinct theoretical frameworks. Instead, mere is a commonly accepted frameworK—or what is generally called a "paradigm"—that guides investigation in the area. In part, this reflects the maturity of these scientific disciplines, which have been around longer than the science of psychology. Yet even (lie "mature sciences" may feature different theoretical views of the same phenomenon. Suppose you were to ask a physicist about (lie nature of light. You might learn that physics has a theory lhat says that light is a wave. And you might leam that physics also has a theory that says that light is composed of individual particles. If you were to ask "Which theory is wrong?" you would be told "Neither." Light acts as a wave and a particle. Both a wave theory and a particle theory capture important information about the nature of light.

The same is true for the personality theories you will leam about. Whatever the limitations of each. it is undoubtedly the case that each theoretical perspective captures important information about human nature. As you read about them, you should not be asking yourself "Which theory was right, and which ones are wrong?" Instead, it is better to evaluate them according to how useful they are in advancing knowledge regarding issues of scientific and social importance. Even a theory that gets some things wrong may have practical value (Proctor & Capaldi, 2001). Despite its limitations, it may serve as a va.jable guide to basic research as well as to applications.

THE PERSONALITY THEORIES: A PRELIMINARY SKETCH

What, then, are the personality theories? What theoretical frameworks have had the biggest impact on the field? This book will introduce you to six theoretical approaches to the study of personality. We will provide a very brief sketch of these approaches here, so that you can get a sense of the terrain ahead.

We begin with psychodynamic theory (Chapters 3 and 4), :he approach pio-ne"red by Freud. Psychodynamic iheory views the mind as an energy system;

the basic biological energies of the body reside, in part, in the mind. Mental snergies, then, are directed to the service of basic bodily needs. However, peo-Pe generally cannot gratify sexual and other bodily desires whenever they

1. sh. Instead, the drive to gratify bodi'y needs often conflicts with the dictates on50^"? Behavior-then' reacts a conflict between biological desires, on the sairii    and social ^"'•fra'nts, on the oAer. In psychoanalysis, the mind is ilv    contain ^Serent systems that serve different functions: satisfying bod-ancinh'l ^P1""®111"1^ social norms and rule;; and striking a.strategic bal- • 'ng featween ^"'opca' drives and social constraints. -An additional defin-saij ^ dre ol psychodynamic theory is that much of this mental activity ;s

drives triT^ outside of ones conscious awareness. We are not aware of the "nderiie our emotions and behavior; they are unconscious.

CHAI'TCK I I'raSOXAUn- THEORY

Phcnomenologicai theories, reviewed next {Chspiers ? and 6), contrast starkly with the psychodynamic view. Phenomenological theories are less concerned with unconscious process, and more concerned with peoples cor.':ci0i-.s experience of the world around them—that is, their phenomenological experience. Phenomenological theorists recognize that people have biologically based motives, yet they believe th-''t people also possess "higher" motives in'.'olving persona! growth and self-fulfillment, and that these motives are more important to personal well-being than are the anirnal'stic drives highlighted by Freud. Finally, compared to psychodynamic approaches, phenomenological theory places much greater emphasis on the se!f. The development of a stable and coherent understanding of oneself is seen as key to psychological health.

Trait approaches to personality, reviewed in Chapters 7 and §, differ strikingly from botli of the previous formulations. The differences reflect not only different '.'lews about the nature of personality, but different scientific beliefs about the best way of building a personality theory. Most trait theorists believe that, to construct a theory of personality, one must begin by solving two scientific problems: (1) developing a reliable measure of individual differences, and (2) determining which individual differences are most important to measure. Once these problems are solved, one would be able to measure the most important individual differences in personality, and these measurements could serve as a basis for constructing a comprehensive theory of persons. An exciting development in the late-20th-century history of the field is that many personal! ly psychologists came to conclude that these problems had, in fact, been solved. Much consensus has been achieved on the question of what individual differences are most important and on how they can be measured.

Chapter 9 addresses one of the most exciting aspects of contemporary personality science, namely, research on the biological foundations of personality. This includes findings regarding the genetic bases of personality traits, as well as work revealing the brain systems that underlie individual differences. In this chapter, we devote coverage not only to trait theories but to evolutionary psychology. Evolutionary psychologists explain contemporary patterns of

social behavior in terms of mental mechanisms that are a product of our evolutionary past.

Chapter 10 introduces the ideas of behaviorism, which represent a learning approach to personality. In behavioral theories, behavior is seen as an adaptation to rewards and punishme-.ts experienced in the environment. Since different people experience different patterns cf reward in different settings, they naturally d;i eloped different styles of behavior. Basic learning processes, then, are said to account for the stylistic variations in behavior that we call "personality." Behaviorism presents a profound challenge to the theories presented previously. To the behaviorist, the units of analysis of the previous theories—the psycho-dynamics theorist's "unconscious forces," the "self of phenomenological theories, personality "traits"—are not causes of behavior. They merely are descriptions of patterns of thinking, emotion, and behavior that ultimately are caused by the environment that, according to the behaviorist, shapes our behavior.

Chapter 11 introduces a very different theoretics! approach, that of personality construct theory. Personal construct theory addresses people's capacity to interpret the world. Unlike the behaviorist, who is most concerned with how the environment determines our experiences, the personal construct theorist studies the subjective ideas, or constructs, that people use to interpret the

THt PERSONALITY THEORIES; AN INTRODUCTION

1. ,• nmenl. One person may view the college environment as "challenging," criv1^ r as "boring;" one person may view dating c::-cumstanf-es as "roman-an^.'   ,,h<r •«•, "sexually threatening." Personal construct theorists explore

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L '   sibilitV that most individual differences in personality functioning stem froni°the different constructs that people use to interpret their world.

The f-ial theoretical perspective is that of social-cognitive theory (Chapters

nd 13). In some respect, social-cognitive theory is similar to the personal onstruct approach; social-cognitive theorists study personality by analyzing the thinking processes that come into play as people interpret their world. However, the social-cognitive perspective expands upon personal construct theory in at least two important ways. First, as suggested by "s name, social-cognitive theory explores in detail tlie social settings in which people acquire knowledge, skills, and beliefs. Personality develops through back-and-forth influences, or reci,:.'ocal interaciions, between poop'-; and the setting? (i.e., the faniilv, interpersonal, social, and cultural settings) of '.heir lives. Second, social-cognitive theory devotes much attention to questions of self-regulation, which refers to the psychological processes through which people set goals for themselves, control their emotional impulses, and execute courses of action.

Chapter 14 considers personality in context. We explore contemporary research that illustrates the critical point that you often can leam much about peoples personalities by studying the life contexts—the social situations, cultural settings, interpersonal relationships, etc.—that make up their life. This research heavily capitalizes on the social-cognitive perspective discussed in Chapters 12 and 13, while providing a broad portrait of contemporary psychological research on social settings and the individual. We end, in Chapter 15, with a brief summary of the terrain we have covered.

Differences among the Theories

Wnen we started this preliminary sketch of the personality theories, you may have asked yourself "Do these theories really differ from one another in important ways?" By now, it should already be clear that the answer to this question is yes." Not only do the theories differ, but theoretical perspectives often have developed ;n explicit opposition to one another. Theorists perceive problems in one theory, and embark o". a new theoretical directio:.. The differences among the theories involve difference; both in basic views of human nature and in views of how best to construct a scientific theory pf persons.

The fact that there exist multiple theories does not mesn that the psychology ot personality consists merely of "warring camps" of investigators who

1. Thfi ^^ days arguing the merits of one versus another theoretical position. gres A ^•seen much cumulative scientific progress. As the science has pro-dene ?    erem theoretical perspectives have gained or lost influence, cipli-'^s °" whether th<iir ideas proved able to foe! the progress of the dis-beir? ' ^nle uleoretical positions have evolved over time, with modifications optical ^•M     of sdentific f63"1^- •^ a result of this evolution, some the-Possible t0^115 are doser to onc another tlldn "^ u£eu to be- Indeed, it is . ^e field in th T11 slgns of an ^"^"S consensus position that might guide

Oespite s-     we: we retunl to this P0^111111^in our closing chapter. ^ntainsth1?15 "^"^^sn^, at the present time personality psychology "leoreucal positions that differ markedly And maybe this is not such

34    CHAfrilR I I'liRSONALITY THEORY

a bad tiling. The prc_ence of different theories serves an important funct _ It forces investigators to consider not only research findings that derive fro, their own favorite theory, but results that come from other theories and th might challenge their own favorite view. Theoretical diversity thus can acc^ erate the overall progress "f a discipline. It can cause theorists to'refine J their positions in the face of a diverse range of research findings and theore] ical challenges. As one wise observer has put it, in commenting on tk| progress of the social and psychological sciences, the “deployment of dislinn| inquiries…[that] force deep-going reconsiderations upon one another” iswhai “drive[sj the enterprise erratically onward" (Geertz, 2000, p. 199).

We hope you enjoy our review of personality psychology, and the theories and research that drive it along the bumpy road of scientific progress

MAJOR CONCEPTS

l3ciiid\i'i[ll!t  A concept referring to the range of phc-nomena covered by a theory.

Fidelity A concept referring to the specificity or clarity with which a theory relates to phenomena.

Hierarchy  A relation betw'n entities in which one of them is an example of, or serves the purpose of, the other. In any given personality theory, different variables often are related hierarchically-

Personalily Those characteristics of the person that account for consistent patterns of experience and action.

Process In personality theory, the concept that refers to the motivational aspects of personality.

Structure In person^Uty theory, the concept that refers to the more enduring and stable aspects of personality,

System A collection of highly interconnected parts that function together; in the study of personality, dis

tinct psychological mechanisms may function together as a system that produces the psychological phenomena of personality.

Temperament  Biologically based emotional and behavioral tendencies that are evident in early childhood.

Trail  An enduring psychological characteristic of an individual; or a type of psychological construct (a 'trail construct") that refers to such characteristics. Type A cluster of personality traits that may constitute a qualitatively distinct category of persons (i.e., a personality type).

Units of analysis  A concept that refers tu the basic variables of a theory; different personality theories invoke different types of variables, or different basic units of analysis, in conceptualizing personality structure.

REVIEW

1. We all act as personality psychologists in our efforts to observe, explain, and predict human

behavior.

2. Personality theories address the questions of what (structure), why (process), and how (growth and development) concerning human function: ng. They also address questions concerning the nature of psychopathology and personality change.

3. A number of issues have confronted personality theorists throughout the relatively brief history of th; field. Responses to these issues play a major role in defining the essential characterisiics of the theory developed by each theorist

4. Compared to i""e avenge person, scientific personality psychologists make more systematic observations, make their theories more explicit, and provide for more rigorous testing of specific predictions.

5. In evaluating theories, we are interested in the criteria of comprehensiveness, parsimony, and research relevance.

6. Theories organize, .what is. known and suggest answers to question; about what is not yet known. Although the role of theory in the study of personality has been debated, it is suggested that theory is important to our goa^ of underrtanding :md explaining human behavior.

THESCiENTIFIC STUDY ^::     OF PEOPLE

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PERSONALITY THEORY AND PERSONALITY RBSEAP-CH PERSONALITY ASSESSMENT AND

THE CASE OF JIM    / ' Autobiographical Sketch of Jim

MAJOR CONCEITS REVIEW

Cliapter Focus

Three students in a course on personality work together on a research project. They have been instructed to develop a research method for studying the effects of achievement motivation on academic performance. At their first meeting, they realize that they have drastically differing opinions about how to proceed. Alex is convinced that the best approach is to follow one student over the course of the semester, carefully recording all relevant information (grades, changes in motivation, feelings about courses, etc.) to obtain «» complete and in-depth picture of a particular case. Sarah, however, thinks little of Alex's idea because his conclusions would apply only to that one person. She suggests that the group develop a set of motivation questions and give the questions to as many students as possible. She then would examine the correlation between questionnaire responses and performance in school. Yolanda thinks that neither of these approaches is good enough. She thinks tliat the best.way to understand things scientifically is to run experiments. She suggests an experimental manipulation that causes some people to feel motivated and others t" feel unmotivated, followed by a measure of test performance.

The students' views illustrate the three major methods in personality research: case studies: correlational studies using questionnaires; and laboratory experiments. This chapter in'reduces you to these three research methods. First, however, we review the different types of information, or data sources, that might go into any stud}', as well as the general goals that investigators have when they conduct research on personality.

1. What kind of information is it important to obtain when studying personality?

2. What does it mean to say that scientific observations must be "reliable" and "valid"?

3. How should we go about studying people? Should we conduct research in the laboratory or in the natural environment.'' Through the use of self-reports or reports of others? Through studying many subjecis or a single individual?

4. Ho'" much difference does it make to study people with one or another type of data? Or through one versus another approach to research? In other words, to what extent will the person "look the same" when studied from different vantage points or perspectives?

In Chapter 1, we suggested that, at an intuitive level, all people are personality psychologists. Both you and the professional personality scientist develop complex and insightful thoughts about people. The job of the personality scientist, however, differs from yours The personality scientist must formulate

THE DATA OF PERSONALITY PSYCHOLOGY

1. ,.   ,    .

Just as we all are intuitive personality theorists, we are also intuitive personality researchers. We observe differences among people, as well as consistent patterns of behavior within individuals. However, the "research" of the ordinary person differs from that of the personality scientist. Scientists follow established procedures to ensure that they obtain information that is as objective and accurate as possible. They check these procedures to ensure tnat their observations are reliable and stable, rather than occurring by chance or error. Thev report the procedures in publications, so that other investigators can replicate their procedures and verify their findings. Rarely in our daily lives do \ve do any of this in a systematic way.

1. This chapter is devoted to the research procedures of the personality psychologist. Our subsequent chapters explore personality theories. You should bear in mind, however, that questions about theory and research are not as separate as this division of chapters might suggest. It might seem as it psychologists first should conduct a large amount of "theory-free" research, and then develop a theory to explain their findings. But this is impossible because there is no such thing as "theory-free" research. Research involves the systematic study of relationships among events. Generally, we need a theory to identify the events that are most important to stud}'. We also need a theory to tell us how to study them. Suppose, for example, that you wanted to isst the idea that people who are anxious about dating relationships do not perform as well as they should on exams in college courses because their anxiety interferes with their learning. To test this, you would have to begin by measuring people's level of anxiety, out how? It is impossible to proceed without makir.g some theoretical assumptions. One option would be to ask people directly "Are you anxious about dating?" But this option makes two risky assumptions: (1) that people are aware of their level cf anxiety, and thus are capable of reporting it, and (2) Lhat people will tell you, honestly and accurately, about their anxiety if you ask. These assumptions could be wrong, and a personality theory might specify exartly how they are wrong. For example, psychodynamic theories suggest that some people are so anxious that they are not even aware of their anxiety. They repress it. This theory suggests that you need a different research method. '-.tier potential research procedures, such as measuring physiological arousal i°d ral^^u°ctio"ing ^ 'ndex levels of anxiety, similarly rest on theoretical exT5   ^ut ^hat ^^ is' what its underlying causes are, and how it is res'-,   Thus' ^^ and research are closely linked. Theory without

- rcn can be mere speculation. Research without theory is an impossibility.

^"ConsT ^ one way to get scientiBC information, cr data, about per- THE DATA Of

Alternativelv^on6 ^iTT"Yo" could ask a pcrson to teu yo" what she is like- PERSONALITY "elf. Or sinrp a .''Luao "^"e her in her day-to-day activities to see for your- PSYCHOLOGY Pie v/hoS^5 would be rather ^-consuming, vou could ask other peo- r31WOWJl

'ty would be on'^r'T weu ro report ori her P61'50"^1^- A fourth possibil-J"dgments but •   atuoes mt rely on anyone's subjective observations or "^ords, job perfo          at ^^^ f&cts shout the person's life (school

CHAPTER 2 THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF PEOPLE

IOIS OF DATA

Personality psychologists have recognized these options and have defin^. categories of data that one might use in research (Block, 1993). They als'o created a handy acronym to make it easy to remember them. The four, of data are: (1) life record data (L-data), (2) observer data (0-data), (31 data (T-data), and (4) self-report data (S-data)—or, LOTS of data. PersoJ psychologists consider four data types because each one, individually' unique strengths and limitations (Ozer, 1°99).

L-data consist of information that can be obtained from a persons life tory or life record. For example, if one is interested in the relation beh intelligence and school performance, one can make use of official sc records of intelligence test scores and grades. If interested in the rel;

between personality and criminality, one does not have to ask people ") you committed any crimes?" and rely on the truthfulness of their ansi. Instead, court records of arrests and convictions supply an objective meal of criminality. For many personality characteristics, however, such objel records are not available, so other data sources must be considered.

0-data consist of information provided by knowledgeable observers s as parents, friends, or teachers. Generally such persons are provided wiL questionnaire or other rating form with which they rate the target individ| personality characteristics. For example, friends might complete a questi) naire in which they rate an individual's level of friendliness, extraversionjl conscientiousness. Sometimes observers are trained to observe individual! their daily lives and to make personality ratings based on these observatit As one example, camp counselors have been trained to observe systematic the behavior of children at camp, in order to relate specific forms of behai (e.g., verbal aggression, physical aggression, compliance) to features of camp setting or to general personality characteristics (e.g., self-confidet emotional health, social skills) (Shoda, Mischei, & Wright, 1994; Sroi Carlson, & Shulman, 1993). As is clear from these examples, 0-data can a sist of observations of very specific pieces of behavior or of more general I ings based on observations of behavior. In addition, data on any individual! be obtained from one observer or from multiple observers (e.g., one friend n-iuny friends, one teacher or many teachers). In the latter case. one can chi for agreement or reliability among observers.

T-data consist of information obtained from experimental procedures standardized tests. For example, ability 10 tolerate delay of gratification mil be measured by determining how long a child w'll work at a task to obtail larger reward rather than a .smaller reward that is immediately avails (Mischei, 1990, 1999b). Performance on a standardized test such as an inte gence test would also be illustrative of T-data.

Finally, S-data consist of information provided by the subject himself herself. Typically such data are in the form of responses to questionnaires-these cases the person is taking the role of observer and making ratings t^ vant to the self (e.g., "I am a conscientious person"). Personality questir' naires can be relevant to single personality characteristics (e.g., opi.'misrc;', can attempt to cover the entire domain of personality. Self-reports clearly W limitations. People may be unaware of some of then- own psychological cN acteristics. They nay be motivated to present themselves in a positive mao" to tbfi psycholog-",-t administering the test. However, self-reporf measures tl

THE OATA OF PERSONALITY PSYCHOLOGY

1. in that they are relatively easy to obtain. Also, they sometimes are convenien^ ^^ ^ assess a psychological characteristic of interest (e.g., sub-the on y ^   ^^ of oneself or a stimulus). Thus, self-reports are the most ^"^Iv used source of data in personality psychology. "'Tl LOTS categories are a useful system for keeping track of 'he alternative

irces of data the personality psychologist may employ. You will see many 50 moles of these different types of evidenc; about personality throughout the "aoters of this book. However, two points must be kept in mind. First, c" archers do not need to choose only one source of data for their research. O'uite commonly, they combine data sources. This combination can add to one's confidence in research findings. For example, researchers who try to •dentify the most important dimensions of individual differences find that 'nalvses of different data sources (S and 0 data) yield the same dimensions;

the same five personality factors are found whether one analyzes peoples reports about themselves or other peoples reports about them (McCrae & Co^ta, 1987). Such a finding bolsters confidence in the conclusion that these dimensions are, indeed, of basic importance...

The second point is that some forms of data do not easily fit into this four-category LOTS scheme. As the field of personality psychology has progressed, new types of measurement have been developed. Thus, additional categories may be necessary to capture the diversity of data that the contemporary psychologist uses to assess personality characteristics (Cervone & Caprara, 2001). For example, some researchers employ implicit individual-difference measures;

that is, measures designed to tap beliefs or self-evaluations of which people may not be consciously (i.e., explicitly) aware (Fazio & Olson, 2003). One popular implicit measure involves reaction-time methodology, in which researchers measure how long it takes for people to answer a question. An implicit test of self-esteem, for example, might measure how long it takes people to respond to stimuli involving the self when those stimuli are associated with positive versus negative terms (Greenwald & Banaji, 1995; Greenwald et al., 2002). Other researchers employ diary methods, which are techniques'in which people are asked to report about their psychological experiences soon after their occurrence, rather than completing a questionnaire that inquires about things that have happened in the distant past (Eolger, Davis, & Rafaeli, 2003). Diary methods have a major advantage People may forget important details of experiences that they had a week, a month, or a. year previously By asking people to report on then- current experiences one or more times every day, diary-methods avoid the problem of forgetting, as well as eliminate biases that may occur when people try to remember emotionally significant '"vents that occ"rred far in the pasl.

HOW DO DATA FROM DIFFERENT SOURCES REI ATE TO Otu ANOTHER? -

1. ^avmg introduced four categories of data, a question to ask is whether mea-1999) re     from the d^erent types of data agree with one another (Pervin, friend t person rates herself as high on conscientiousness, will others <e.3., "aircmeaaf"1'6 her smula^ly? If an individual scores high on a question-l"ad to a-"?   "^^"on. will ratings given by a professional interviewer

^11 he score h"'!500"7 ff an mdividual rates himself as high on extraversion, ^t trait r«      on ulat trait in a laboratory-designed situation to measure Irart (e.g., participation in a group discussion)?

CHAPTER ; TH^:SCH;.'•'"''IF^C STUDY OF P''OPLI-:

The seemingly simple question of whether rl'fferent data sources relate one another is more complicated than it sounds. Numerous factors influ^ the degree to which data sour^s are related. One is the que^ior- of -which d;

sources one is talking about. Personality psychologists frequently have toy that self-reports (S-data) are often discrepant from scores obtained frorn |, oratory procedures (T-data). Self-report questionnaires tend to involve tiro, judgments that relate to a wide variety of situations (.e.g., "I generally am pn ty even-tempered") whereas experimental procedures measure persona] characteristics in a very specific context. This difference often is critic resulting in discrepancies between the two types of data.

Self-reports (S-data) and observer reports (0-data) tend to be related mm closely. Personality psychologists commonly find significant levels of agn ment when comparing self-ratings to observer ratings (e.g., Funder, Kolar, Blackman, 1995; McCrae & Costa, 1987). Yet here, too, different types research procedures can lead to different conclusions (Coyne, 1994; John Robins, 1994a; Kenny et al., 1994; McCrae & Costa, 1990; Pervin, 1996, 1999 When the personality characteristic being rated is highly evaluative (e.g., sti pid, warmhearted), self-perception biases enter the rating process, loweril agreement between self and observer ratings (John & Robins, 1993, 1994 Robins & John, 1997). Moreover, <;ome personality characteristics are moi observable and easier to judge than others (e.g., sociability versus neuroti cism), leading to greater agreement between s’-lf and observer ratings as we as to greater agreement among ratings obtained from different observers o the same person (Funder, 1989, 1993, 1995; John & Robins, 1993 Furthermore, some individuals appear to be easier to read or more “judgable’ than others (Colvin, 1993). In sum, a variety cf factors—including the degra to which a personality characteristic is evaluative and observable, and ti degree to which the person being rated is “judgable”—affect the correspon dence between data sources.

In general, the different sources of data about personality should be reco nized as ha”ing their own advantages and disadvantages. Self-report ques tionnaires have a clear advantage: People know a lot about themselves, so ‘I psychologist wants to knuiv a person, maybe the best thing to do is to as Aem about themselves (Allport, 1961; Kelly, 1955). Yet, self-report method have urnits. People’s descriptions of themselves on questionnaires can influenced by irrelevant Factors such as the phrasing of test items and t order in which items appear on a test (Schwarz, 1999). People also may liec)( may unconsciously distort their questionnaire responses (Paulhus. FridhanJIer, & Hayes, 1997), perhaps in an attempt to present themselves io a positive light. For such reasons, some researchers feel that the best rneasu of an individual’s personality is questionnaire ratings by others who know t person. Yet here, too, problems may arise; different raters may sometimes rs*-6 the same person in quite different ways (Hofstee, 1994; John & Robins, 199′ Kenny et al., 1994). As a result, some psychologists contend that the fid” should not rely so heavily on questionnaires—whether those questionnairs5 are Self-reports or are reports by other people who are familiar with a gi^ individual. Instead, objective messures of behavior and of biological systen underlying that behavior may be a more reliable source of evidence for bull”‘ ing a science of personality (Kagan, 2003). Yet the personality psychologist 1s often interested in aspects of personal experience that do not have any siropi6

Till; DATA OF PERSONALITY 1-SYCHOLOGV

havioral “r biological markers. If one wants to know about people’s congous’ perceptions of uiemse!’-'; and their beliefs about the world around ”, ^ (he,, we’re back where we started: the best thing to do is to ask them.

FIXED VERSUS FLEXIBLE MEASURES

..other way in which sources of data abo’ U personality can differ involves the ouestion of whether measures are fixed or flexible. By “fixed,” we are referring ‘ procedures in which exactly the same measures (e.g., exactly the same test items) are administered to all the people in a psychological study, and scores for all the people .ire computed in exactly the same way. Such “fixed” procedures are, by far, the most commonly employed method in personality psy-cholosv. If psychologists wnnt to know about people’s characteristics, they generally give large groups of people precisely the same tesi items, and compute scores for everyone in a common manner. Doing so has obvious advantages. It yields a testing procedure that is objective and simple.

There are, however, two potential limitations to this fixed method of assessment. One is that some of the test items that the psychologist asks may be irrelevant to some of the individuals who are taking the test. If you have ever taken a personality questionnaire, you may have felt’that some of the ques-:ions were good ones, ip thit they tapped into an important feature of your personality, whereas others were not good ones, in that they asked about things that are irrelevant to you. A fixed testing procedure does not differentiate between the two types of items; it simply adds up all of your responses and computes for you a total score on a test. Tue second limitation is that there may be features of your personality that are not on the test. You may possess some idiosyncratic psychological quality—an important past experience, a unique skill, a guiding religious or moral value, a long-term goal in life—that is not mentioned anywhere on the psychologist’s test.

These limitations can, in principle, be overcome by adopting testing procedures that are more: flexible, in other v.-ords, procedures that do something other than merely give all people a common set of questions. Various opuons are available (Cervone, Shadel, &. Jencius, 2001; Cervone & Shadel, 2003). For example, one option is tc give people a fixed set of test items, but co allow them o indicate whjch items are more or less relevant to them (Markus, 1977).

1. other is to give people unstructured personality tests, that is, tests in which for    sauow People to describe themselves in their own “‘ords. rather than ques’S6   mto ^F^d to descriptions worded entirely by the experimenter. A tured it s   as “True or false: 1 iike Somg to large parties” would be a struc-ends’” w”‘!^’^1^” the question “^at activities do you enjoy on die week-’•aluable       “”structured. Unstructured methods have proven to be quite ^crds u- ^sessms ^-^”"Pt- These methods include asking people to list ^”g. & Ma^^oo^ describe important aspects of their personality (Higgins, life expert     r    or to teu stories that relate their memories of important

Personah’rv”   J they have had (woike & p010′ 2001)-”ersus flexsbl psyc”olo£i3ts “aw a technical vocabulary to describe these fixed

to all perso s mwwes- Fixed measures that are applied in the same manner ^r -lav.,” no’m^ rererred to as nomothetfc. The term comes ferun the Greek

a fixed manner ^    refers here to dle search for scientific laws that apolv, in ‘ ^Voae. Flexible assessment techniques that are tailored to

CHAPTER 2 THE SCIENTIFIC STL’DV OF PliO”!-:”.

the particular individual being studies are referred to as idiographic. This term comes from the Greek idios, refe;-.\ng to personal, private, and distinct characteristics (as in the word “idiosyncratic”). In genera!, then, nomothetic techniques are ones that describe a population of persons in terms of a fixed set of personality variables, using a fixed set of items to measure them. Idiographic techniques, in contrast, have the primary goal of obtaining a portrait of the potentially unique, idiosyncratic individual. As you will see in later chapters, the personality theories differ in the degree to which they rely on fixed versus flexible, and nomothetic versus idiographic testing procedures.

PERSONALITY THEORY AND ASSESSMENT

With the options of four differ”nt sources of data, and idiographic versus nomo-tlietic testing procedures, how is one to choose? How does one select among the options available for getting information about persons? Inevitably, choices are shaped by theoretical considerations. One’s theoretical views about personality determine what one thinks about different measurement procedures. Measuring personality is not like measuring the mass of a rock. Everyone agrees that the mass of a rock can be measured in terms of pounds (or something arithmetically equivalent, like kilograms). But since different personality theories use different units of analysis, as we discussed in Chapter 1, there is no uniform agreement among personality psychologists regarding exactly what personality variables should be measured and how to measure them.

To some personality psychologists, the important thing to measure is people’s typical patterns of behavior. To others, who emphasize people’s skills, capabilities, and plans for the future, it may be more important to measure people’s life goals—which may or may not be reflected in a persons current behavior. (You may have the goal of becoming d parent, and this goal may be important in understanding your personality, but if you are not yet a parent then this feature of your personality may not be reflected in your current day-to-day behavior.) Many personality psychologists employ nomothetic assessment procedures, because they believe that there exists a small number of psychological characteristics that we each possess in greaier or lesser amounts. Other theories try to capture the idiosyncrasy of the individual, and believe thai. nomothetic procedures provide only a superficial depiction of the depth of an individual’s character.

The relations between theory and choice of measurement will be illustrated again and again as you read the subsequent chapters of this book. For now, note that the relation between theory and research procedures underscores a theme from our first chapter It is impossible to study personality by fir&i. collecting a lot of data, and then creating a theory. This is because one needs a theory to decide what type of data it is most valuable to collect, and how to interpret the data that one gets.

No instter what question one is studying, and no matter what method one chooses, a research project canr.ot succeed unless its procedures possess two qualities. One’s observations of personality (1) must be replicable (if the study is run twice it should turn our the same way both rimes); and (2) the measure

GOAIS OF RESEARCH: RELIABILITY. VALIDITY. ETHICAL BEHAVIOR

i   it’- theoretical concept of interest in a given study. In the lan-rnusl ^research. measures must be reliable and valid (West & Fir.ch, 1997).

RE1.1ABIUTY

pot of reliability refers to the extent to which observations can be 1- ird ^he question is whether measures are dependable, or stable. If we rep ‘”wple a personality measure, and then give it to them again a short time elve we expect that the measure will reveal similar personality characteristics t rh’e two time points. If it does not, it is said to be unreliable.

a Various factors may affect the reliability of a psychological test. Some involve the psychological state of the people who are being observed. People’s responses may be affected by transient factors such as what tlieir mood happens to be at the lime that they are observed. For example, if a person is taking the same nersonality test on two different days, and responses on one day are altered by a chance event that day that puts them in a good or bad mood, then scores on the two days will differ. This resulting lack of reliability is a problem if the test is assumed to measure stable personality characteristics that are relatively uninfluenced by temporary stales or moods. Other factors involve the test itself. Variations in instructions to subjects, or ambiguities in test items, can lower reliability. Carelessness in scoring a test or ambiguous rules for interpreting scores can also lead to a lack of agreement, or lack of reliability, among testeis.

The notion of reliability commonly is measured in two different ways, with the different techniques providing answers to different questions about a test (West & Finch, 1997). One reliability question involves internal consistency: Do the different items on the test correlate with one another, as one would expect if each item is a reflection of a common psychological construct. The second question is one previously noted, namely, test-retest reliability: If people take the test at two different points in time, do their scores correlate with one another. The differences between the types of reliability are made plain by a simple example. -Suppose one added a few intelligence test items to a test of extraversion. The test-retest reliability of measure would remain high (since people would probably have similar performance on the intelligence test items at different points in time). But the internal consistency of the test would be lowered (since responses on extraversion and ittteli’gencs test items probably would not be correlated).

VALIDITY

1. ^”. addition to being reliable, observations must be valid. The concept ofvaUd-y reters to the extent to which observations actually reflect the phenomena exa T”1 m a e^c” ^dy. The concept of validity is best illustrated by an bv m   ln which a “easure is not valid: One could assess people’s intelligence

able^”"^ the size of their head’ and the measure cbuld be perfectly reli-of thp”" u would not be ^id because head size is not actually an indicator

Ifth”  “P^11111″ that we call “intelligence” (Gould, 1981). ^PPos^V1 no evidence that a S’”611 measure is “alia, then ;t is of little use. neurotici or “”"‘P1®’that we ^ve a reliable test for the personality traits of Purport to”1 or extravelsion-bvit no evidence that the tests measure what fhey need evide measure- of what use are they? To constitute a useful measure, we ce that the test is indicative of the psychological construct of inter-

CHAPTKR 3 THE SCIENTIFIC STI’I:)’! OF I’fc-DI’I.R

est. The test, in other words, must have construct validity (Cronbach (

Meehl, 1955; Ozer, 1999).

to establish ;;iat a :^t possesses construct validity, personality psycholo gists generally try to show that the test relates systematically to some extema criterion, that is, to some measure that :s independent of (i.e., external 10) th( test itself. Theoretical considerations guide the choice of an external criterion, For example, if one were to develop a ‘est of the tendency to experience anxi. ety, and wanted to establish its construct validity one would use theoretical •ideas about anxiety to choose external criteria (e.g., physiological indices of anxious arousal) that the test should pi-edict. One generally would establish validity by showing that the test con-elates with the external criterion. However, in addition to correlational data, tests of validity might involve comparisons of two groups of people v/ho are theoretically relevant to the test. A group of people who have been diagnosed by clinical psychologists as suffering from an anxiety disorder, for example, should get higher scores on the purported anxiety test than people who have not been so diagnosed; otherwise one obviously would not have a valid test of anxiety.

There are other aspects to “validity,” as the term commonly is used (Ozer, 1999; West & Finch, 1997). For example, if one is proposing a new personality test, then one should be able to demonstrate that the test has “discriminant validity”: it should be distinct, empirically, from other tests that already exist. If, hypothetically, one proposes a new test of “worrying tendencies” and finds

that it correlates with existing tests of neuroticism, then the new test is of little value because it lacks discriminant validity.

In sum, reliability concerns the questions of whether a test provides a stable, replicable measure, and validity concerns the questions of whether a measure actually taps into the psychological construct it is supposed to be measuring. Reliability is necessary for validity. If a test is unreliable, thut means that test scores are being affected by extraneous factors, which in turn implies

that the scores are reflecting something other than the psychological construct of interest.

Note that questions of reliability and validity involve not only statistical issues in the analysis of tests, but theoretical issues in the test’s interpretation. For example, for some psychological constructs, one might not expect measures of the construct to have high degrees of test-retest reliability. Suppose one wants to measure people’s current emotional state, or mood. Since people’s moods may Euctuate from day to day, it is natural that a mood measure may show low test-retest reliability. Similarly, questions of validity strongly involve conceptual considerations. Validity concerns the interpretation of a test (West & Finch, 1997). Questions that ask people about their tendencies to enjoy contemporary art, listen to classical music, and read books of philosophy may be only moderately valid if interpreted as indicators of intelligence,

but may have high validity if interpreted as measures of intellectual tendencies, or openness to experience (McCras & Costa, 1999).

THE ETHICS OF RESEARCH AND PUBLIC POUCT

as a human <»rt*-a-»~—-

As a human enterprise, research involves ethical issues. Bthical questions arise in both the conduct of research and the reporting of research results. These questions are of enduring concern to psychology’s scientific communi-

GO.ALS OF RESEARCH: RELIABILITY. XAI.IHITV. ETHICAL BEHAVIOR

1. •th 2003). In part, this concern reflects the impact of a number of stud-’y . rn ,, years that brought into sharp focus some of the issues involved. For les  -   ,^ Qne research effort that won a prize from the American examp ,  ^ ^ Advancement of Science, subjects were told to teach other Ass^ ts (“‘learners”) a list of paired associate words and to punish them with ^^Tecmc shock when an error was made (Milgram, 1965). The issue investi-an e ^,35 obed’ence to authority. Although actual shock was not used, the Sheets believed that it was being used and often administered high levels sl> J   pieas from the learners that it was painful. In another research effort

•hich a prison environment was simulated, subjects adopted the roles of “”lards and prisoners (Zimbardo, 1973). Subject “guards” were found to be verbally and physically aggressive to subject “prisoners,” who allowed themselves to be treated in a dehumanized way

Such programs are dramatic in terms of the issues they raise, but the underlying question concerning ethical principles of research is fundamental. Do experimenters have the right to require participation? To deceive subjects? “/hat are the ethical responsibilities of researchers to subjects and to psychology as a science? The former has been an issue of concern to the American Psychological Association, which has adopted a list of relevant ethical principles (Ethical Principles of Psychologists, 1981). The essence of these principles is that “the psychologist carries out the investigation with respect and concern for the dignity and welfare of the people who participate.” This includes evaluating the ethica! acceptability of the research, determining ivhether subjects in the study will be at risk in any way, and establishing a clear and fair agreement with research participants concerning the obligations and responsibilities of each. Although the use of concealment or deception is recognized as necessary in some cases, strict guidelines are presented. It is the investigator’s responsibility to protect participants from physical and mental discomfort, harm, and danger.

The ethical responsibility of psychologists includes the interpretation and presentation of results as well as the conduct of the research. Of late there has been serious concern in science generally with “the spreading stain of fraud” (APA Monitor, 1982). Some concern with this issue began many years ago with charges-” (“at Sir Cyril Burt, a once prominent British psychologist, intentionally niisrep-

•^sented data in his research en the inheritance of intelligence. UnTortunately,

•Ais problem is not entirely a thing of the past; questions about the validity of ‘

oaaslona11;’ arise in the contemporary field (Ruggiero & Marx, 2001). The ue ot fraud is one that scientists do not like to recognize or talk about because

andfa] anal?st the essence of the scientific enterprise. Although fraudulent data

••xisten”   c°n’:Iusi°ns are rare, psychologists are beginning to face up to their iional “t    to take ^”^^ve steps to solve the problem. Aside from profes-hat it be eg^lly,t•le ereatest safeguard against scientific fraud is the requirement,

1. Much posslble for other investigators to replicate all findings. ‘ace, is a(.t   ^e than feaud’ and undoubtedly of much broader signifi-

ssues’aredev^ue^^ee^e<^o^pel^na^andsoci;^^ilasont^eways’lnw^lt:^’   ” cn tor a •opedand &e lands of data that are accepted as evidence in-sup-

^rople • to w^11″1″155′ (pervM’ 2003)-Ia considering sex differences, for … om bias? to \h extent are rcsearch projects developed in a way’that is free ^ces equally 1,1 ,’extent is evidence for or against die existence of sex differ-ly to be accepted? To what extent do our own social and polit-

46

CHAPTER 2 THE. SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF PEOPLE

ical values influence not only what is studied but how it is studied and the ki of conclusions we are prepared to reach (P.^mel & Friend, 1981)? As no^ although scientists make every effort to be objective and remove all possi))] sources of error and bias from their research, this rem-iins a hLLman enterprii with the potential for personal, social, cultural, and political influence.

Finally, we may note the role of research in personnel decisions and the foi mulation of public policy. Though still in an early stage of development as a sc ence, psychology does relate to fundamental human concerns, and psycholo gists often are called on to administer tests relevant to employment or admis sions decisions and to suggest the relevance of research for public polic Personality tc^ts often are used as part of employment, promotion, or adrni sion to graduate programs; research findings have influenced government po icy in regard to immigration policy, early enrichment programs such as Heai Start, and television violence. This being the case, psychologists have a respon. sibility to be careful in tlie presentation of their findings and to inform othen of the limits of their findings in regard to personnel and policy decisions

THREE GENERAL       Although all personality researchers hold the goals of reliability, validity, and APPROACHES TO      theory development in common, they differ in strategy concerning the best RESEARCH            routes to these goals. In some cases, the differences in research strategies are minor, limited to the choice of one experimental procedure or test over another. in other cases, however, the differences are major and express a more fundamental difference in approach. P.esearch in personality has tended to follow one of three directions, and we now turn to a description of these approaches, including examples of each approach taken from the contemporary scientific literature in personality psychology.

CASE STUDIES AND CUNICAL RESEARCH

One way to learn about personality is to study individual persons in great detail. Many psychologist feel that in-depth analyses of individual cases, or case studies, are the only way to capture the complexities of human personality. In a case smdy, a psychologist has extensive contact wiih the individual who is the target of the study, and tries to develop an understanding of the psychological structures and processes that are most important to that individual’s personality. Using a term introduced earlier, case studies inherently are idiographic methods, in that the goal is to obtain a psychological portrait of the particular individual under study.

Case studies may be conducted purely for purposes of research. Historically, however, case studies have commonly been conducted as part of clinical treatment. Clinical psychologists, of course, must gain an understanding of the unique qualities of their clients in order to craft an intervention, so the clinical setting inherently provides case studies of personality. Case studies by clinicians have played an important role in the development of some major theories of personality. In Fact, many of the theorists we will discuss in this bock were trained as clinical psychologists, counseling psychologists, or psychiatrists. They initial-ly tried to solve the problems of their patients, and then used the insights obtained in this clinical setting to develop their theories of personality.

THREI; GE\1:RAI. AriW:)A<;HI;S 10 RI;SI;AKCH

Taciics of Rescarcli: Case studies represent one approach to persoi,..iily research.

Case Sd’dies: An Example

To illustrate the insights mat can be gained by a systematic case study, we will consid^i work by the Dutch personality psychologist Hubert Hermans (200′). Hermans is interested in the fact that people’s thoughts’about themselves—or llieir sc;f-concept—is generally multifaceted. People think of themselves as having a variety of psychological characteristics. These concepts about me self develop as individuals interact with other people. Since we each have interactions with many different people, different aspects of our self-concept might often be relevant to different situations that feature different individuals. You might see yourself as being serious and articulate when interacting with professors, fun-loving and confident when hanging out with friends, and romantic yet anxious when on a date. To understand someone’s personality, then, it might be necessary to study how different aspects of the self come into play as

CHAPTIiR i

h|l SCIKVTinC sti.idv OF I’l-’OI’IJ

people think about iheir life from different viewpoints that involve individual who play different roles in their life. Hermans (2001) refers to these different viewpoints as different “positions” one can take ill viewing oneself.

This view of the self-concept raises a major challenge for most forms of research. Correlational and experimental studies generally provide a small amount of information a bout each of a large number of people. But to understand the complexity of self-concept as Hermans describes it requires a large amount of information about a person and the individuals and social circumstances thai make up that persons life. When tills level of detail about th;

individual is required, personality psychologists turn to the technique of case studies.

Hermans (2001) reports a case study that reveals the complexity of personality in our modern day and age, in which people from different cultures come in contact with one another much more frequently than in the past, due to the migration of individuals from one pan of the world to another for purposes of education or employment. The case he reports is that-of a 45-year-olci man from Algeria named Ali. Althougli this man grew up in northern Africa, for more than 20 years Ali had been living in r-.orthern Europe; he worked for a Dutch company and married a woman from the Netherlands.

As part of this case study, Hermans employed a systematic research method that can be used in the study of a single individual. The method is one in which an individual is asked to list characteristics that describe their own attributes, as well as listing people and situations that are important to them. The individual is then asked to indicate the degree to which each personal characteristic is important, or prominent, in each of the situations. Using these ratings, Hermans provides a graphic depiction of the organization of the individuals beliefs. In the graphs, an inner circle represents personal characteristics and an outer circle represents other people and situations.

Figure 2.1 represents these psychological characteristics in the case of Ali. The graph reveals an interesting fact about Ali. He views his life as having distinct components, and he exhibits different personality characteristics in these different life settings. One component of his self-concept involved family members, en both his own side of the family and his wife’s. These people tended tc b<; very accepting of him. When he was v.’ith these people, Ali was happy • and outgoing, and was willing to make sacrifices for other individuals. Yet, All’s view of himself and his social world contained a second component. As is readily understandable for someone who ha? moved to a new culture that may not always be accepting of immigrants, Ali recognized that some people dis-crinuna;ed against him or held political views with which he disagreed. With these people, he felt vulnerable and disillusioned. Interestingly, he also felt this way with his sister, who both he and his wife viewed as “the witch of the family” (Hermans, 2001, p. 359). The detailed information provided by this case study, then, provides insight into the textures of this individual’s life that is generally unavailable through other research methods.

Cose Studies: Urnifflnons

The benefits of case studies such as this one are clear; They can capture much of the complexity in an individual’s personality, as; it manifests itself in the

unique circumstances cf the person’s life. However, case studies have two significant drawbacks.

THREE CENTRAL rti’PROACHES TO RESEARCH

^/-’”": – ^-p”.*^^   partner

^ •    .-gregarious^ falher

. ..-i?;.       \ mother

^.^”^ \ children      \ father-in-law mother-in-law

.’• i tike to’ bo alone/ discriminating / Dulch people ••-’;'   .•         /                 ‘ ..•.^.’.disillusioned / Michel Bouquet /

vulnerable ^g,.,i,,,.               /

Figure 2.1 Self-Concepts. Remits from a case study of an Algeiian man living in [he . Netherlands, married to a Dutch womr.n. From Hermans (2001).

The first is that, after one obtains a case study portrait of an individual,

there is no way of knowing if the things one has learned about that individual apply to individuals "n general. One cannot determine if the case study findings are representative of the population at large. For example, although Ali seemed to have different experiences with people who did accept him in the new culture versus those who did not, the findings of this case study do not

enable one to determine how common such experiences are among people in general.

The second limitation involves the task oF identifying causes. In personality science, as in any science, researchers hope to identify the causes of the phenomena they study. They wish not only to describe a person, but to explain how an individuals personality develops and how personality characteristics

1. ^feevents ""^y influence one another. A case study may provide a wonderful description, but it generally cannot provide a definite causal explain •°1?- •? ^"P16' "nagine a clinical case study that describes changes in lon1 lvlduals Psychological' well-being that occur over the course of a year-accui-Rt1"^111'^ The C2se ^^ "^y describe the changes with great causer  i," ulnnot ^able one to conclude, definitively, that the treatment influen echanees ^-cr events in the person's life may have had causa! rity that     P^"0" may have improved simply as a result of personal matu- . imnrnua^ '? ewied over the course of a year's time; the person may have

The des-    eve" sf therc had been no treatment.

"ifluence a^ to study li"'ge^ '"""P1"5 of Persons and to establish the causal approaches, t01^ va^a^>-s '""'tivate researchers 10 pursue the following two Search: personality questionnaires and correlational research.

CHAI'TCR 2 Tllli SClliN.'TIFIC STL'DV OF I'FOI'I.I.

PERSONALITY QUESTIONNAIRES AND CORRELATIONAL RESEARCH

Personality tests and questionnaires are used where the intensive study of individuals is no; possible or desirable, and where it is not possible to conduct Laboratory experiments. Beyond this, the advantage of personality questionnaires is that a great deal of information can be gathered on many people at one time. Although no one individual is studied as intensively as with the case Study approach, the investigator can study many different personality characteristics in relation to many different research participants.

The use of personality tests and questionnaires has tended to be associated with an interest in the study of individual differences. Many personality psychologists believe that the critical first step in understanding human nature is to chart the differences among people. Personality questionnaires often are designed to measure these individual differences. For example, personality psychologists might have an interest in using questionnaires to measure individual differences in anxiety, self-consciousness, friendliness, the tendency to take risks, or other psychological qualities.

In addition to measuring these personality variables, the psychologist generally wishes to know how they go together. Are anxious people more friendly than less anxious people? Or less friendly? Do self-conscious people take fewer risks? Are risk-taking people friendlier? Such questions are addressed in correlational research. This term comes from the statistic used to gauge the degree to which two variables go together: the correlation coefficient. A correlation coefficient is a number that reflects the degree to which two measures are linearly related. If people who have higher scores on one variable tend also to have higher score; on the other one, then the variables are said to be positively correlated. (Anxiety and self-consciousness would tend to be correlated in this way.) If people who have higher scores on one variable tend to have Sower scores on the other one, then the variables are said to be negatively correlated. (Anxiety and self-conficence might be correlated this way, since people who express low self-confidence are likely to report being relatively more

THREl; GENERAL APPROACHES TO RESEARCH

1. ,       ,„  ,-              ,

Note that the term "correlational research refers to a research strategy, not erelv tc a particular statistical measure (the corr-lation). The strategy is one in which researchers examine the relation among variables in a large popula-lon of people, where none of the variables is experimentally manipulated. In some circumstances, researchers may not compute a simple con-elation coefficient to examine ;he relation between two variables; they may, for instance, use more complex statistical procedures that determine whether two variables are related, even after controlling for the influence of some other variables. (For example, one might ask whether intelligence test scores are related to persona] income after controlling for other variables, such as the income level of one’s parents.) Even if ^uch alternative approaches to analyzing data are used, one would still have a correlational research strategy if one is looking at the relation among variables without manipulating these variables experimentally.

Corr°lati”nal Research: An Example

A compelling example of the power of correlational research to answer questions that cannot be answered through any other technique is found in a study relating personality characteristics to longevity (Danner, Snowdon, & Friesen, 2001). The question being asked in this research is whether the tendency to experience positive emotions is related to how long people live. Prior work had established that people’s emotional life can influence their physical well-being. For example, emoiions arc associated with activation of the autonomic nervous system (ANS); ANS activity, in turn, influences the cardiovascular system (Krantz & Manuck, 1984), which is critical to health. The implication of this pnor ‘.’/ork is that if one could identify people who differ in their tendencies to expenence positive and negative emotions, and could follow these people for a long enough period of time, one c-.ight find th?.t people wlio tended to expenence high degrees of positive emotion will live longer. No”- that tlus is a question that can only be answered through correlational research. A case

udy is not convincing because, sven if one does identify a case in which. im eon!-evPenences a. lot of positive emotions and lives for many years, it is

imenti   t!0 know if the single case is tyPical of P^P16 in es”®”1- An ^P®1′-P’e's      [V ls '"'P05'"111^ fcoth because one cannot easily manipulate peo-

urwri   ^endencyto experience emotional states and because 't would be C^r-3] , “^”‘P^ate a variable that might lower people’s length of life. known “a a^” rcsearch on ^’s topic could be conducted thanks to a project • “^r of Cath 1- nun study (Danrier et al” 200^- This is a study of a large num-

1. korn befnr n0 nuns    g in the united states- The nuns in the ^”^ were a11 “^ial of&^ eyearl9!7-In 1930, they had been aske.; by an administrative wi* the oerr^     church to write an autobiography. The researchers, permission of the nuns, read these autobiographies and coded them

CHAPTF-R 2 THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF prOFLR

according to the amount of positive emotions expressed in th” writing. Some autobiographies contained relatively little positive emotional content (e.g., “I intend to do the best for our order, for the spread cf religion and for my personal sanctirication”), whereas others indicated that the writer experienced high degrees of positive emotion (“the past year… has been a very happy one. Now I look forward with eager joy . . .”; Dauner et al., 2001, p. 806).

During the 1990s and the year 2000, approximately 40% of the nuns, who at the time ranged in age from 75 to 95 years, died. The researchers could relate the experience of positive emotions, as indicated in the biographies of 1930. to length of life at the end of the century.

This study revealed a strikingly large relation between emotional experience and length of life. Nuns \vho experienced more positive emotions in the 1930s livd longer. The relation between emotional experience and longevity can be represented by counting the number of positive emotion wor^s that were used in the autobiographies and dividing tha population into quartiles (i.e., four groupings, each representing approximately one-fourth of the population) ranging from low to high amounts of emotion words (Table 2.1). Of the nuns who had expressioncd a high amount of positive emoiions, only about one-fifth died during the observation period. Of the nuns who expressed low amounts of positive emotion, more than half died! This is true even though the high and low groups were of the same age at the beginning of the observation period.

Correlational Research: Umitafions

Correlational studies have been enormously popular among personality psychologists. Yet it is important to be aware of two limitations of this research strategy. The first limitation is one that differentiates correlational studies

THREE GENERAL APPROACHES TO RESEARCH

, ^,^ heiween Expression of rosilm! bnolions in Writing as MeosufeJ Early in b’fe onj Longevity

1. ^l^g^L1^^^———      Ase-               D’ec”w O..:,ml= IC^               ‘       ^     .           ^
2. S”3″1″‘ , ,                          79.7                33 Ouartile Ul                                              -

rLrtile IV (high)__________’9-0__________2!____________

•——_. n-ner D D.. Snowdon. D. A.. & Fricsen. W. V. (2001). Positive emotions in early life TnT^S^ “•”"”IP ‘”"” •he “”" s”"ly• Jo”">!ll °f petson!iuty & socu Psychology. 80,

804-813.

from case studies. Case studies provide richly detailed information about an individual. In contrast, correlational studies provide relatively superficial information about individual persons. A correlational study will provide information about an individuals scores on the various personality tests that happen to have been used in the research. But if there are some other variables that are important to an individual person, a correlational study generally will

not reveal them.

1. The second limitation is one that case studies and correlational studies share. As in a case study, in a correlational study is it difficult to draw firm conclusions about causality. The fact that two variables are correlated does not mean thai one variable necessarily caused the other. There could be a “third variable” that influenced both of the variables in one’s study and that caused those variables to be correlated. For example, in the nun study, it is possible that some psychological, biological, or environmental factor that was not measured in the study caused some nuns to experience fewer positive emotions and to live less long. As a hypothetical example, if one conducted a study akin to me nun study with college students, one might find that positive emotionality would predict longevity. But that would not necessarily mean that the tendency to experience positive emotions during college caused people to live longer. For example, levels of academic success could function as a third variable. Students who are doing extremely well in college might experience me-— positive emotions as a result of theiracademic success. They also might obtain mere lucrative jobs after graduation, again as a result of their acac-mic success. Their high-paying jobs might enable them i.o pay for superior health care, which in turn could lengthen their life whether or not the}’ continue to experience frequent position emotions. In this hypothetical exam-P’e, emotions and length of-life would be correlated, but not because of any sion ^^ connection between the two. The difficulty of drawing conclu-invest-1 causality ^m either case studies or correlational studies leads imente3   to pursue a third ^P”^011 to research, namely, laboratory exper-

^ORATORY STUDIES AND EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH

1. resezrch in’.i6″^ achievements of science is not a research finding but a experiment L” A:    “‘””o11′^ experiment. The key feature of a controlled •^ndition The    P’^'Pants are assigned at random to an experimental overall experiment contains a number of different conditions

As is evident from the “nun study” reviewed in the text, a major area of application for contemporary personality psychology is that of health. Investigators try to discover individual differences in personality qualities that are systematically related to health outcomes.

A particularly informative example of this research trend comes from recent work by a research team from Finland and the United States (Raikkonon, Matthews, & Salomon, 2003), The health outcome of interest to them was cardiovascular disease. As these authors review, the biological factors that put people at risk for cardiovascular problems are already well known. A cluster of factors including obesity, high blood pressure, abnormal levels of lipids (blood fats) in the bloodstream, and insulin resistance (a reduced sensitivity to the action of insulin) puts people at risk for heart problems. Also, it is known that the presence of this cluster of health problems—referred to as “metabolic syndrome”—tends to persist from childhood to adulthood; people who suffer from obesity and insulin resistance as children are likely to suffer from these same problems when they are adults-It is important, then, to determine the causes of metabolic syndrome. The question the researchers asked is whether personality factors in childhood might predict the development of these biological risk factors.

The personality factor that they chose to study was hostility. This decision was based on prior research. Earlier work had demonstrated a relation, among adults, between cardiovascular problems and tendencies to react to life events with hostility and anger. The authors thus predicted thai individual differences in hostility in children would predict the development of aspects of metabolic syndrome.

Note that this ‘s a difficult prediction to test. The idea is not merely that hostility and

THKI-:K f;L.\L-;RAI. APPRO<CHI;S TO ‘

‘EARCH

Figure 2.2 The figure relates individual differences in hostility to thr presence of biological factors that are Known to put people at risk for cardiovascular problems. People with higher levels of two risk factors, involving body mass (left) and insulin resistance (right), were found to exhibit higher levels of hostility. From Raikkonon, Matthews, & Salomon (2003).

another possibility is that more hostile children are more likely to engage in behaviors that, in turn, create health risks. Hostility may be related to unhealthy lifestyles (smoking. alcohol use, reduced physical activity), and these lifestyles’ may contribute to the development of health problems. This latter possibility is particularly interesting because it raises the possibility that psychological interventions might have long-term health benefits. Interventions that teach children to control their tendencies to react to the world in a hostile manner may promote better lifestyles and superior health.

soi-’.ce: Rsifckonon, Matthews, & Salomon (2003).

^ a: manipulate one or more variables of interest. If people in one condition ^espond differently than people in another, then one can conclude that the ^ “able that was manipulated causally influenced their responses. This con-p, on ls ^^d precisely because people are assigned to conditions randomly. the e om asslgnment assures that there is no systematic relationship between dg -p’^”111®111^ ^”ditions and people’s pre-experimental psychological ten-niani i .^^P^in different conditions act differently after the experimental ticn w^l0″‘ ^esr)ite being the same bcroie it occurred, then the manipula-^hich Vs t. ecause of the differences in response. This research strategy, in to differ’11^ es are “^^ipulated through the random assignment of persons – nt conditions, is the hallmark of expciimental research.

Experirnenfof Research: An Example

A powerful example of experimental research comes from work by Claude Stecle (1997) and colleagues, who have investigated a phenomenon known as “stereotype threat.” Work on stereotype threat explores circumstances in which people are trying to perform well in front of others (e.g., they are taking an exam and other people, such as tlie course instructor, will know how well they have performed). In such situations, there sometimes exist negative stereotypes concerning the perforr”ance of particular social groups. For example, according to some stereotypes, women may not be as good at math as men, or people of different ethnic backgrounds might be thought to be more or less intelligent. If an individual is a member of a proup for which there is a stereotype, and if the individual thinks of the stereotype, then a psychological threat arises. There is a threat in the individual’s mind that he or sh.: might confirm the stereotype. In man” circumstances, this stereotype threat may interfere -.’.-ith one’s performance For example, if you are taking a difficult exam and become detracted by thoughts that you might confirm a stereotype associated with a group of which ynu are a member, then this distraction might, like any distraction, cause you to perform le–s v.’eil.

In principle, one could study stereotype threat processes through case studies or correlational studies. However, as we have noted, these approaches would not provide convincing evidence that stereotype threat causally influences performance. To explore this potential causal influence, Steele and colleagues have studied stereotype threat experimentally (Steele, ^997). For example, they have examined the performance of African-American and European-American college students on verbal test items of the sort that might be included on an intelligence test; a negative stereotype-abou’t intelligence is one of various stereotypes about African Americans that persist in U.S. culture. The experiment featured two conditions. In one, all participants first completed a demographic questionnau-e in which they were asked to indicate their race. In the other, the demographic questionnaire was omitted. Black and white students were assigned at random to one or the other condi-

(ion. The results of the study revealed that completing the demographic questionnaire lowered the subsequent test performance of black students (Figure 2.3)—stereotype-threat processes caused them to perform less well than whites. Although we review this study for the purpose of illustrating the experimental method, one, of course, should also note its social implications. By asking about racial background on demographic questionnaires, one may ‘nadvertently produce differences in intelligence test scores. Thus, if a group of black students were to obtain lower intelligence test scores than white stu-

—^^- .—.*/yn ** fifi/w^/, irmn

“treat       —-•’”; uw group may perform less well on a test because of stereotype wdiuf’i^”’1″ that wvf<”v- with their performance. This cm occur even whp» fh. d’v”iu£ts are of high ir.:ellisence and <%’.

CHAPTER 2 THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF PEOPLE

dents, [his would not necessarily mean that (hey possess less intelligence:

instead, they could be suffering from stereotype-threat processes that cause the test scores to underestimate their actual intellectual capabilities.

Stereotype-threat processes can occur in other settings and with members of other groups. For example, women may be subject to negative stereotypes with regard to performance in mathematics. The threat of confirming these stereotypes may contribute to male-female differences in mathematics test performance. Consistent with this idea, gender differences in which men cut-perform women in mathematics have been shown to be eliminated when stereotype threat is reduced (Spencer, Steele, & Quinn, 1999). Experimental research on stereotype threat thus illuminates a general psychological process that contributes to important life outcomes.

EVALUATING ALTERNATIVE RESEARCH APPROACHES

Having now reviewed the three major research Strategies, we are in a position to evaluate them in detail. As we already have noted, each has strengths and limitations (Table 2.2).

Case Studies and Clinical Research: Sirengths and liniil'ilions

A major advantage of case studies, particularly as they are conducted in clinical settings, is that they overcome the potential superficiality and artificiality of correlational and experimental methods. In a case study, the investigator learns about deeply important aspects of an individuals life, which may not occur in a brief experiment or a survey questionnaire. Clinicians conducting

1. Table 2.2   Si'Tinio.'y of Polenlial Sirenglhs cnrf Umitalions cfAllenioliye Research Methods

Potential Strengths     Potential Limitations

CASE STUDIES AND CUNICAL RESEARCH

1. 1. Lead to unsystematic observation.
2. 2. Study the full complexity of          2. Encourage subjective inteipretation of person-tnviroiur.en; relationship;       data.

3. Lead to in-depth study of individuals- 3. untangled relationships among

variables. LABORATORY STUDIES AND EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH

1. 1. Excludes phenomena that cannot be studied in the laboratory.
2. 2. Creates an artificial setting that limits the generality of findings.

3. Establishes cause-effect relationships; 3. Fosters demand characteristics and

experimenter expectancy effects. QUESTIONNAIRES AND CORRELATION RESEARCH

1. • 1. Establish relationships that are association?] rathe- tha-. causal.
2. 2. Study relationships among many      2. Problems of reliability and validity of variables,                              self-report quecdonnaires.

3. Large samples easily obtained._____5. Individuals not studied in depth.

1. ,.   ^ observe hew tlic client thinks and feels about events. One case studies lr^^^ gf interest directly and does not have to extrapolate e.ornirK”- ‘ e    artificial setting to the real world. ” from a some  _    ^ ^^ clinical research may be the only feasible way of

A further a^ ^^^^ ^sn one needs to study the tuU complexity of stuay’ng ^onn-   ^ individual-environment relationships, and the within-persw organization of personality, in-depth case studies may be the only

“P”0″‘ ,i- ,tudv of a few individuals has two main features that stand in con-•t’h research on groups (Pervin, 1983). First, relationships established r     roue as a whole may not reflect the way any individual behaves or the

“some subgroups of individuals behave. An average learning curve, for way .e may not reflect the way any one individual leams. Second, by con-c>”^ rineonly group data, one may miss some valuable insights into processes

• on in particular individuals. Some time ago. Henry Murray argued for the use of individual as well as group studies as follows: “In lay words, the subjects who gave the majority response may have done so for different reasons. Furthermore, a statistical answer leaves unexplained the uncommon (exhiblt-ed-by-the-minority) response. One can only ignore it as an unhappy exception to the rule. Averages obliterate the -individual characters of individual organisms’ and s= rail to reveal the complex interaction of forces which determine each concrete event” (1938, p. viii). At the same time, such research may involve subjective impressions on the part of researchers, resulting in different observations by each investigator. Insofar as researchers make observations on a subjective basis, they accumulate data that decline considerably in reliability and validity.

Regarding limitations of the case study method, we already have noted two:

findings of one case study may not generalize to other people, and the case study method does not provide firm evidence that one psychological process causally influences another. There is a third limitation. Case studies often rely ,on the subjective impressions of researchers. Rather than relying exclusively • on objective measurement procedures, one often must rely on impressionistic repcrts—fur example, impressions of a clients progress written by his or her clinician. The problem is that these reports may reflect not^only the qualities of the person being studied, but th’> qualities of the person who prepares .the report. In a typical case Gtudy, there is no guarantee that a differeiu rpsearcher examining the same case would come to the same conclusions. This subjective element can lower the reliability and validity of case-study evidence.

Correlational Research and Questionnaires: Strengths and Limitations

1. tionn^^011517 note<i’ a main advantage of correlational studies using ques-alwavT^ ” that il ” P0851131® to ^dy ^s numbers of people. This has the Inf  ” an.advant^ee of the correlational strategy; however,-m the era of tionnaires”‘ “tf” ^ even blgger Vantage since psychologists can put ques-Aat are dr    • “ltenlet and theieby gather information from populations available “”^^y l^er and more diverse than was typically previously

questionnaire^111380 °^ ^le ^”‘^^”onal approach concerns reliability. Many Provide extremely reliable indices of the psychological con-

CHAPTER 2 THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF PEOPLE

strucis they are designed to measure (Epstfcin, 1979). This is important in that the reliability of the tests is necessary to detect important features of personality that might be overlooked if one employed measures lacking reliability. For example, resc<^chers find that individual differences in personality traits are highly stable over time; people who differ in extraversion or conscientiousness in young adulthood will probably differ in middle- and later-adulthood as well (e.g., Costa & McCrae, 2002). One could not detect this fact unless the measures of the personality traits wer” highly reliable.

Regarding limitations/we have noted that correlational studies provide weaker evidence of causal relationship than do experimental studies and that they provide more superficial information about individuals than one generally acquires from a case study. A third limitation concerns the widespread reliance on self-report questionnaires. When describing themselves on a questionnaire, people may be biased to answer items in a way tliat has nothing to do with the exact content of the items or the psychological construct that the psychologist is trying to assess. These biases are called response styles. Two illustrative response-style problems can be .considered. The first is called acquiescence. It involves the tendency to agree consistently (or disagree consistently) with items regardless of their content. For example, a test taker may prefer to say “yes” or ” I agree” when asked questions, rather than sa}^ng ” no” or “I disagree.” The second response style is c?.!led social desirability. Instead of responding to the intended psychological meaning of a test item, a subject may respond to the fact that different types of responses are more or less desirable. If, hypothetically, a test item asks “Have you ever stolen anything from a store?”, the answer “no” is clearly a more socially desirable response than “yes. people are biased to answer questions in a socially desirable manner, then their test scores may not accurately reflect their true psychological characteristics.

A research report that highlights the problem of distortion of questionnaire responses, while also emphasizing the potential value of clinical judgment, is that ofShedler, Mayman, & Manis (1993). In this research, conducted by psychologists v/jth a psychoanalytic orientation who were skeptical of accepting self-report data at face value, individuals who “looked good” on mental health questionnaire scales v.’ere evaluated by a psychodynamically oriented clinician. On the basis or his clinical judgments, two subgroups were distinguished: one defined as being genuinely psychologically healthy in agreement with the questionnaire scales and a second defined as consisting of individuals who were psychologically distressed but who maintained an illusion of mental health through defensive denial of their difficulties. Individuals in the two groups were found tu differ signifii-antly in their responses to stress. Subjects in the illusory mental health group were found to show much higher levels of coronary reactivity to stress than subjects in the genuinely healthy group. Indeed, the former subjects were found to show even greater levels of coronary reactivity to stress than subjects who reported their distress on the mental health questionnaire scales. The differences in reactivity to stress between the genuinely healihy subjects and the “illusory” healthy subjects were considered not only to be statistically significant but medically significant as well. Thus, it was concluded that “for some people, mental health scales appear to be legitimate measures of mental health. For other people, /these scales appear to measure defensive denial. There seems to be no way to

THREE GENERAL APPRuACHES TO RESEARCH

i^g test score alone what is being measured in any given respon-

know^Shedleretal.,1993,p.ll28).

i,     ho defend the use of questionnaires note that such problems often I’minated through careful test construction and interpretation. ca” i, ^icf.; can reduce or eliminate the effects of acquiescence by varying

P^VCHOlOHl31—*                          ,          .       „    „              j         .

h wording of items on a test so that consistent yes responses do not give hieher overall test score. They can employ questionnaires that are one ifically designed to measure the degree to which a given person tends to “^dorse socially desirable responses. Comprehensive personality question-res commonly include test items or scales to measure whether subjects are f l-ne or trying to present themselves in a particularly favorable or socially ripsi’-able way. Including such scales in a research project, however, often is inconvenient or costly, and thus, they often are lacking in particular studies.

laboratory, Experimental Research: Strengths and limitations

In many ways, our ideal image of scientific investigation is laboratory research. Ask someone for their description of a scientist, and they are likely to conjure up an image of someone in a sterile lab. As we have already seen, this image is too limited; personality psychologists employ a range of scientific methods, and laboratory research is but one of them. Yet it is an important one. The experimental approach, as we have noied, has the unique ability to manipulate variables of interest and thereby to establish cause-effect relationships. In the experiment that is properly designed and carried out, every step is carefully planned to limit effects to the variables of interest. Few variables are studied, so that the problem of disentangling complex relationships does not exist. Systematic relationships between changes in some variables and consequences for other variables are established so that the experimenter can say: “IfX, then Y.” Full details of the experimental procedure are reported so that the results can be replicated by investigators in other laboratories.

Psychologists who are critical of laboratory research suggest that too often such research is artificial and limited in relevance to other contexts. The suggestion is that what works in the laboratory may not work elsewhere. Furthermore, although relationships between isolated variables may be established, such relationships may not hold when the complexity of actual human behavior is consider-d. Also, since laboratory research tends to involve rela-ive y bnef exposures to stimuli, such research may miss important processes a occur over time. As you read about personality research -n the subsequent

en» ^ers   this book’ a I”"110″ to ask yourself is how successful the differ-

wr’^0″” are in “tablishing experimental findings that generalize to real-world situations.

1. influen human ^^”se, experimental research with humans lends itself to of such Tfi   are part of ^O^y interpersonal behavior. The investigation considerwlences ^Sat be called the social psychology of research. Let us the behavi ° lmpclrtant ^strations. First, there may be factors influencing ^ong suchfa      – ^J^ that are not part of the experimental design. E^t to the suh010″!”"^l?e cues “”P^”1 in tne experimental setting that sug-”"erest of c-’1001 that the exPerimenter has a certain hypothesis and, “in the ^ects are ‘en’6″”‘    ^’^ behaves in a way that will confirm it. Such wn as ^niand characteristics and suggest that the psycho-

CHAPTER 2 THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF PEOPLE

logical experiment is a form of social interaction in which subjects give purpose and meaning to things (Ome, 1962; Weber &. Cook, 1972). The purpose and meaning given to the research may vary from subject to subject in ways

that are not part of the experimental design and thereby serve to reduce botli reliability and validity.

Complementing these sources of error or bias in the subject are unintended sources of influence or error in the experimenter. Without realizing it, experimenters may either make errors in recording and analyzing data or emit cues to the subjects and thus influence their behavior in a particular way. Such unintended experimenter expectancy effects may lead subjects to behave in accordance with the hypothesis (Rosenthal, 1994; Rosenthal & Rubin, 1978). For example, consider the classic case of Clever Hans (Pfungst, 1911). Hans was a horse that by tapping his foot could add, subtract, multiply, and divide. A mathematical problem would be presented to the horse and, incredibly, he was able to come up with the answer. In attempting to discover the secret of Hans’s talents, a variety ofsituational factors were manipulated. If Hans could not see the questioner or if the questioner did not know the answer, Hans was unable to provide the correct answer. On the other hand, if the questioner knew the answer and was visible, Hans could tap out the answer with his foot. Apparently the questioner unknowingly signaled Hans when to start and stop tapping his hoof: The tapping would start when the questioner inclined his head forward, increase in speed when the questioner bent forward more, and stop when the questioner straightened up. As can be seen, experimenter

expectancy effects can be quite subtle and neither the researcher nor subject may be aware of their existence.

It should be noted that demand characteristics and expectancy effects can occur as sources of error in all three forms of research. However, they have been considered and studied most often in relation to experimental research. In addition, as noted, experimental research often is seen as most closely approximating the scientific ideal. Therefore, such sources of error are all the more noteworthy in relation to this form of research.

Many of the criticisms of experimental research have been attacked by experimental psychologists. In defending laboratory experiments, the following statements are made: (1) Such research is the proper basis for testing causal hypotheses. The genersJity of the established relationship is then a subject for further investigation. (2) Some phenomena would never be discovered outside of the laboratory. (3) Some phenomena can be studied in the laboratory that would be difficult to study elsewhere (e.g., subjects are given permission to be aggressive in contrast with the often quite strong restraints in natural social settings). (4) There is little empirical support fur the contention that subjects typically try to confirm the experimenter’s hypothesis or for the significance of experimental artifacts more generally. Indeed, many subjects are more negativistic than conforming (Berkowitz & Donnerstein, 1982).

Even if one accepts these four points, there remains one criticism of laboratory research that is difficult, if not impossible, to overcome. It is that some phenomena simply cannot be produced in the labnratory A personality theory may make predictions about people’s emotional reactions to extreme levels of stress or their thoughts about highly personal matters. For such questions, laboratory methods may not work- It would be unethical tc create extremely high levels of stress in the lab. In a brief laboratory encounter, people are

THREE GENERAL APPROACHES TO RESEARCH

1. eal any thoughts about matters that are highly personal. The unlikely to re      sometimes is not afforded the luxury of the simple labo-

•aiory study

SUMMARY OF STRENGTHS AND LIMITATIONS

ing these alternative approaches to research we must recognize that considering potential, rather than necessary, strengths and limitations w-^^ 2 2) In fact findings from one approach generally coincide with those

•, another approach (Anderson, Lindsay, & Bushman, 1999). What it r es down to is that each research effort must be evaluated on its own mer-t^ and for its own potential in advancing understanding rather than on some reconceived basis. Alternative research procedures can be used in cinjunc-’•-on with one another in any research enterprise. In addition, data from alternative research procedures can be integrated in the pursuit of a more comprehensive theory.

HE USE OF VERBAL REPORTS

Ml three forms of research—case studies, correlational studies, and laborato-y experiments—commonly make use of verbal reports, that is, things people .av about their psychological states. Research does not necessarily have to use

•erbal reports. For example, if one wants to know people’s emotional reac-ions, one could code their facial expressions or physiological responses rather than asking them to report, verbally, the emotions they are feeling. Nonetheless, a very large percentage of research on personality relies on ver->al report data.

1. In making use of verbal reports, we are confronted with special problems associated with such data. Treating what people say as accurate reflections of ^•hat has actually occurred or is actually going on lias come under attack from wo very different groups. First, psychoanalysis and dynamically oriented psy-hologists (Chapters 3 and 4) argue that people often distort things for uncon-clous reasons: “Children perceive inaccurately, are very little conscious of heir inner states and retain fallacious recollections of occurrences. Many >aolts are hardly better” ^Murray, 1938, p. 15). Second, many experimental sycnologists argue that people do not have access to their internal processes ibo respond to “ierviewer questions in terms of some inferences they make in,,..]!   l must have been Somg, on rather than accurately reporting what

^or^-mT”,^ (Nisbett & -wikon’ m7” wilson- Huu- & Johnson, 1981). iccord VA    plte ^erimenter evidence that subjects make decisions in

epoit h-fl06^” experimental manipulations, the subjects themselves may

•^e anotfiere    i  m a particular ^V £w very different reasons. Or, to i prod.jr-t in ‘”"”P1^ ‘”hen consumers are asked about why they purchased

1. ^•at can eweri^”0^’   &ey may give a reason that is ver>•” different from x:ople give subiec?1       ^”"^trated to have been the case. In a sense, • ^tual causes In su reasons for oehaving as they do, but may not give the . ‘ecause of “normal’”1′ ‘•’”‘S”"1″11 “• that whether for defensive reasons or ‘recesses, verbal self111’0     people have in ^cp^e track of their internal ‘•”a (West & Knch.reports are questionable sources of reliable and valid -”‘ 199′; Wilson, 1994)

64

CHAPTER 2 THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF PEOPLE

Other psychologists argue that verbal reports should be accepted for whai they are—data (Ericsson & Simon, 1993). The argument is made that there is no intrinsic reason to treat verbal reports as any less useful data than an oven motor response such as pressing ?. lever. Indeed, it ia possible to analyze the verbal responses of people in as objective, systematic, and quantitative fashion as their other behavioral responses. If verbal responses are not automati. cally discounted, then the question becomes: Which kinds of verbal responses are most useful and trustworthy? Here the argument is made that subjects can only report about things they are attending to or have attended to. If the experimenter asks the subject to remember or explain things that were never attended to in the first place, the subject will either make an inference or state a hypothesis about what occurred (White, 1980). Thus, if you later ask persons why they purchased one product over another in the supermarket when they

were not attending to this decision at the time, they will give you an inference or a hypothesis rather than an account of,what occurred.

Those who argue in favor of the use of verbal reports suggest that when they are elicited with care and the circumstances involved are appreciated, they can be a useful source of information. Although the term introspection (i.e., verbal descriptions of a process going on inside a person) was discredited long ago by experimental psychologists, there is nov/ increased interest in the potential use of such data. In accepting the potential use of verbal reports, we may expand the universe of potential data for rich and meaningful observation. At the same time, we must keep in mind the goals and requirements of reliability and validity. Thus, we must insist on evidence that the same observations and interpretations can be made by other investigators and that the data do reflect the concepts they are presumed to measure. In appreciating the merits and vast potential of verbal reports, we must also be av.’are of the potential for misuse and naive interpretation. In sum, verbal •

reports as data should receive the same scrutiny as other research observations.

PERSONALITY THEORY In Chapter 1, we considered the nature of personality theory: psychologists’ AND PERSONALITY    efforts to systematize what is known about personality and to point research RESEARCH           ln ^fsi^ons Aat yield new knowledge. In this chapter, we have considered the nature ofpersonal”ty research: psychologists’ efforts to bring objective scientific evidence to bear on their theories. We reviewed the kinds of data obtained by personality psychologists, and then the strengths and limits of three traditional types of personality research (case studies, correlational research, and laboratory experiments).

As we already have noted, personality theory and personality research are not two separate, unrelated enterprise’s. They are inherently intertwined. Theory and research are related for two reasons, one of which we already have noted: Theoretical conceptions suggest avenues for exploration and specify the types of data that qualify as “evidence” about personality. Personality researchers are interested in a person’s physiological reactions and are uninterested in their astrological signs because personality theories contain ideas

that relate physiology to psychological functionmg, while leaving no room for the influence of astrological forces.

PERSONALITY ASSESSMENT AND THE CASE OF JIM

Ti rv and research tend to be related in another way. Theorists have pref-

1. le and biases concerning how research should: be conducted. The father of eren .    behaviorism. John B. Watson, emphasized the use of animals in ‘^”"”ch in part because of his discomfort in working with humans. Sig.-.-iund r€se , founder of psychoanalytic theory, was a therapist who did not believe h ^important psychoanalytic phenomena could be studied in any manner h r than in therapy. Hans Eysenck and Raymond Cattell, two trait theorists of ‘ Historic importance, were trained, eariy in their careers, in sophisticated statis-• al methods involving correlation, and these methods fundamentally shaped i , theoretical ideas. Historically, personality researchers have tended to fall nn one or the other side of three issues associated with the three approaches to research: (1) “making things happen” in research (experimental) versus “study-in” wh.-.t has occurred” (correlational); (2) all persons (experimental) versus the single individual (clinical); and (3) one aspect or few aspects of the person ver-sus^the total individual. In other words, there are preferences or biases toward clinical, experimental, and correlational research. Despite the objectivity of science, research is a human enterprise and such preferences are part of research as a human enterprise. All researchers attempt to be as objective as possible in the conduct or their research and generally they give “objective” reasons for following a particular approach to research. That is, the particular strengths of Lhe research approach fclhwed are emphasized relative to the strengths and limitations of alternative approaches. Beyond this, however, a personal element enters in. Just -as psychologists feel more comfortable with one or another kind of data, they feel more comfortable with one or another approach to research.

Further, different theories of personality are linked with different research strategies and thereby with different kinds of data. In other words, the links among theory, data, and research are such that the observations associated with one theory of personality often are of a fundamentally different type than those associated with another theory. The phenomena of interest to one theory of personality are not as easily studied by the research procedures useful in the study of phenomena emphasized by another theory of personality. One personality theory leads us to obtain one kind of data and follow one approach to “•-earch whereas another theory leads us to collect different kinds of data and follow another approach to research. It is not that one or another is better but rather that they are different, and these differences must be appreciat-

1. hist’oi-riT    ng each ^”‘ach to theory and research. This has been true 1991) S•    ^ remains true in ^e current scientific discipline (Cervone, major’thp”^ •i “‘”"”"”S chapters in this text are organized around the ages anri rf-ff    Wwches to personality, it is important to keep such link-”"-en-nces in mind in comparing one theory with another.

a’s ‘op have seen’ P^Qnauty research involves the effort to measure individu- PERSONALITY ^e tenn (w°     ^”"-atteristic assumed to be of theoretical importance. ASSESSMENT AND

^ aspects of Sd^^Jf used to refer to efforts to measure P6″01131- THE CASE OF JIM wm ^s person1      M ordw to make an W^ or Practical decision:

°ne or another h ^ ^ candidate Cor this job? Will this person profit from dining proerai^T o”reatment? Is this person a good candidate for this m ^”tion, the texm assessment often is “sed to refer to

CHAPTER 2 THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF PEOPLE

the effort to arrive at a comprehensive understanding of individuals by obtaining a wide variety of information about them. In this sense, assessment of a person involves administering a variety of personality tests or measures in the pursuit of a comprehensive understanding of their personality. As noted, such an effort also provides for a comparison of results from different sources of information. This book assumes that each technique of assessment gives a glimpse of human behavior, and that no one test gives, or can hope to give, a picture of the total personality of an individual. People are complex, and our efforts to assess personality must reflect this complexity. In the chapters that follow, we will consider a number of theories of personality and approaches to personality assessment. In addition, we will consider the assessment of an individual, Jim, from the standpoint of each theory and approach to assessment. Through this approach we will be able to see the relation between theory and assessment, and also to consider the extent to which different approaches result in similar pictures of the person.

Before we describe Jim, some details concerning the assessment project will be presented. Jim was a college student when, in the late 1960s, he volunteered to serve as a subject for a project involving the intensive study of college students. He participated in the project mainly because of his interest in psychology, but also because he hoped to gain a better understanding of himself. At the time, a variety of tests were administered to him. These tests represented a sampling of the tests then available. Obviously, theories of personality and associated tests that had not been developed at the time could not be administered. However, Jim agreed to report on his life experiences and to take some additional tests 5, 20, and 25 years later. At those times, an effort was made to administer tests developed in association with emerging theories of personality.

Thus, we do not have the opportunity to consider all the tests at the same point in time. However, we are able to consider the personality of an individual over an extended period of time, and thereby examine how the theories— and the tests—relate to what occurred earlier in life and what followed later. Let us begin with a brief sketch derived from Jim’s autobiography and follow him throughout the text as we consider the various approaches to personality.

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JIM

In his autobiography Jim reported that he was born in New York City after the end of World War II and received considerable attention and affection as a child. His father is a college graduate who owns an automobile sales business;

his mother is a housewife who also does volunteer reading for the blind. Jim described himself as having a good relationship with his father and described his mother as having “great feelings for other people—she is a totally loving’ woman.” He is the oldest of four children, with a sister four years younger and two brothers, one five years younger and one seven years younger. The main themes in his autobiography concern his inability to become involved with women in a satisfying way, his need for success and his relative failure since high school, and his uncertainty about whether to go on to graduate school in business administration or in clinical psychology. Overall he felt that people had a high estimate of him because they used superficial criteria, but that inwardly h& was troubled.

.    ,i,g bare outline of a person. Hopefully, the details will be \i,e have e ^nsidered from the standpoint of different personality theo-ied !” as e ^ ^g g^j of (he book, a complete picture of Jim will emerge.

iajorconcepts

, ,„ I ifc record data or information concerning erson that can be obtained from their life history

life record.

Uaia Observer data or information provided by :wlcdgeablc observers such as parents, friends, or

chers.

lata Test data or inlormation obtained from

Krimcntal procedures or standardized tests.

‘ata Self-report data or information provided by

subject.

w studies  An approach to research in which one dies an individual person in great detail. This strat-

commonly is associated with clinical research, that research conducted by a therapist in the course of icpth experiences with a client.

relational coefficient A numerical index that .imarizes the degree to which two variables are

ited linearly.

relational research An approach to research in

ch existing individual differences are measured related to one another, rather than being manipu-d as in experimental research.

nand characteristics Cues that are implicit (hid-) in the experimental setting and influence the sub-

s behavior.

Experimenter expectancy effects Unintended experimenter effects involving behaviors that lead subjects to respond in accordance with the experimenters hypothesis.

Experimental research An approach to research in which the expel imenter manipulates a variable of interest, usually by assigning different research participants, at random, to different experimental conditions.

Idiographic (strategies)   Strategies of assessment and research in which the primary goal is to obtain a portrait of the potentially unique, idiosyncratic individual.

Nomothetic (strategies)   Strategies of assessment and research in which the primary goal is to identify a common set of principles or laws that apply to all members uf a population of persons. Reliability Tlie extent to which observations are stable, dependable, and can be replicated. Response style The tendency of some subjects to respond to test items in a consistent, patterned way that has to do with the form of the questions or answers ratlier than with their content. Validity The extent to which observations reflect the phenomena or constructs of interest to us (also “construct validity”).

1. ^search involves the systematic study of relation-data ^mo!,s phenomena or events. Four type. of 0-data r^    “1 P0″0″^^ research: L-data,

•>PProaches »’ arid ^^ (LOT^- Three “search klj, ^”"”a^ty research are clinical tional resea^00′ “^”mentation, and correla-^     we.. using questionnaires.

^idity^f sbw:s the goals of reliability and “Pitted anri f”? “^”•ations that can be “‘^”n to &-    which the” is evidence of a ‘”"^rise, ^”"P^ °F interest. As a human “”cenung ti,.-1″1 “wolves ethical questions ^”iogofd^J”””"1′™ of subjects and the

3. Clinical research involves the intensive study of individuals. This research method was illustrated by a case study involving the self-concept oi” an individual as he confronted the different social situations of his life.

4. In-correlational research the investigator measures two or more variables and determines the degree to which they are associated with each other. Questionnaire measures are particularly important in correlaiio>ial research. This research meAod was illustrated with research in which personality factors were found to predict longevity.

5. Experimental research involves the manipulation of one or more variables, to determine their causal

CHAPTER 3 A PSYCHODYNAMtC – –ORY

7Q

74

CHAPTER 3 A PSYCHODYNAMIC THEORY

to an associate, “in the service” of “a dominating passion..-a tyrant [that] ha|| come my way…it is psychology” (Gay, 199°, p. 74).

FREUD’S VIEW Of THE Psychoanalysis contains views of the person and of society, and even a total PERSON AND SOCIETY philosophy of life. These views must be understood in historical context. Although Freud struggled to develop a theory free of personal and sociohis-torical biases, psychoanalytic theory reflects themes that were current in late

19th- and early 20th-century Europe. It was inherently impossible for Freud to overcome this historical limitation to his theorizing. On the one hand, one might expect that a person could overcome such limits through objective scientific observation. But Freud’s scientific observations were of middle- and upper-class patients who themselves were part of the culture of the time.

At the heart of the psychoanal}tic view of the person is that the human is an energy system. Freud postulated a system in which energy Hows, gets sidetracked, or becomes dammed up. There is a limited amount of energy, and if it is used in one way, there is much less of it to be used in another way. The energy that is used for cultural purposes is no longer available for sexual purposes, and vice versa. If the energy is blocked from one channel of expression, it finds another, generally along the path of least resistance. The goal of all behavior is pleasure, that is, the reduction of tension or the release of energy.

Why the assumption that the mind is an energy system? The assumption is traceable to the excitement scientists were then experiencing in physics. According to the 19th-century physicist Helmholtz’s principle of the conservation of energy, matter and energy can be transformed but not destroyed. Not only physicists but also members of other disciplines were studying the laws of energy changes in a system. As already noted, in medical school Freud came under the influence of the physiologist Briicke, who vieiied humans as moved by forces according to the principle of the conservation of energy, a view apparently translated by Freud into the psychological realm of behavior. The age of energy and dynamics provided scientists with a new conception of humans, “the view that man is an energy system and that he obeys the same physical

laws which regulate the soap bubble and the movement of the planets” (Hall, 1954, pp.12-13).

A second feature of Freud’s view of persons, beyond the idea of persons as energy systems, is the notion that human; are driven by sexual and aggressive drives, or instincts. To Freud, sexual and aggressive drives are not learned from society. They are an instinctual feature of human nature. Freud (1930) writes: “The bit of truth .behind all this—one so eagerly denied—is that men are not gentle, friendly creatures wishing for love, who simply defend themselves if they are attacked, but that a powerful measure of desire for aggression has to be reckoned as a part of their instinctual endowment” (p. 85). This instinct of aggression lies “at the bottom of all relations of affection and love

between human beings—possibly with the single exception of that of a mother to her male child” (p. 89).

Along with the aggressive drive, Freud placed great emphasis on the sexual drive and the conflict between the expression of sexuality and social prohibitions. The emphasis on sexual inhibition reflects the Victorian period of which Freud and his patients were a part. For Preud, the person in pursuit of plea-

FREUD’S VIEW OF THE SCIENCE OF PERSONALITY

nnflict with society and civilization. People function according to a sure ‘s ‘”‘ _^pi^ they seek “unbridled gratification” of all desires. This con-p^ureP ^ ^g^ands cf society, which of course prohibit people from freely (licis wi- ^,^3) desires whenever and however they wish. When sexual ener-cxpressi o^ ^g^g^ is does not merely disappear. It is conserved (as aug-B ca, , .^g physics principle of conservation of energy). Energy that would ^’rwise be released in the pursuit of sexual pleasure, but that is inhibited ^ ‘ tn social constraints, may be channeled to conform to the aims of society. oide range of activities—indeed, Freud believed the whole range of cultural ‘ ,[,,ctivity_were expressions of sexual and aggressive energy that were pre-^ted from expression in a more direct way.

R 'carding society, one possible view of society is that it corrupts the indi-,.j] children may be seen as “innocent” beings wlio learn about the dark-

•r side of life from the sociil world. Su.h a view is suggest.: j by the biblical narrative in which Adam and Eve are corrupted by the temptations of Satan and fall from grace. Freud presented a view of society that is the very opposite of this. In Freud’s view, society does not teach the innocent child about sexuality and aggression. Instead, the child is bom with sexual and aggressive drives. Society curbs those drives, teaching the child to inhibit them. One outgrowth of the conflict between the individual drives and social demands is nisery and neurosis. To Freud, the price of progress in civilization is person-[1 misery, the forfeiting of happiness, and a heightened sense of guilt.

We can see, then, that beyond the formal conceptualization of a theory of

Rersonality, there is a view of the person implicit in psychoanalysis. According ) tins view, humans—like other animals—are driven by instincts or drives and operate in the pursuit of pleasure. People operate as energy systems, auilding, storing, and releasing, in one form or another, basically the same ;nergy. All behavior is determined, much of it by forces outside of awareness. .n the end, psychoanalysis sides with the instincts and seeks a reduction in the

•xtent to which the instincts are frustrated.

Freud's training in medical sciences cultivated in him a deep appreciation of the FREUD'S VIEW OF THE -elationship between theory and research and the need for sharp definitions of SCIENCE OF heoretical concepts. Yet he also recognized that, in the early stages of a science, PERSONALITY 'peculative theorizing might be necessary. Thus, he boldly plunged ahead in the-

1. ^ng in a manner that is, uncommon among contemporary psychologists. iah part ^rom ^le ^etai^s °^ his theory, a major contribution of Freud's is the he re ° ?18 s<::ie"tinc observation he made. Freud's observations were based on . n Ch"     of patients-He Ie}ied on clinical case study evidence (as we discussed ri (^ap er2'- ^reud cared little about efforts to verify psychoanalytic principles Tidies a^<:)ratoI7• When a psychologist wrote to tell Freud of his experimental epts we "^ F^^'^ytK concept, Freud responded that psychoanalytic con-. wdentrc   ed °" a wealth of reliable observations and thus, did not need inde-:a! study ^""""^^""Gation. He was satisfied with usin^the intensive clin-'ethod an    '"dividual patient as his major research method. This research robably n0^,    stimulation of considerable data about an individual. ^ ^Aered0!-1^'^Inetn0^ ul psychology even approximates the wealth of mate-ca about a single person by the psychoanalyst

76    CHAPTER 3 A PSYCHODYNAM1C THEORY

CURRENT QUESTIONS •

WHAT PRICE THE SUPPRESSION OF EXCITING THOUGHTS?

Freud suggested that the price of progress in civilization is increased inhibition of the pleasure principle and a heightened sense of guilt. Does civilization require such an inhibition? What are the costs to the individual of efforts to suppress wishes and inhibit "unbridled gratification" of desires?

Recent research by Daniel Wegner and his associates suggests that the suppression of exciting thoughts may be involved in the production of negative emotional responses and the development of psychological symptoms such as phobias (irrational fears) and obsessions (preoccupation with uncontrollable thoughts). Iii this research, subjects were told not to think about sev. Trying not to think about sex produced emotional arousal, just as it did in subjects given permission to think

about sex. Although arousal decreased after a few minutes in both groups, what followed differed for subjects in the two groups. In the first group, the effort to suppress exciting thoughts led to the intrusion of these thoughts into consciousness and the reintroduction of surges of emotion. This was not found when subjects were given the opportunity to think about sex.

The researchers suggest that the suppression of exciting thoughts can promote excitement; that is, the very act of suppression ^.ay make these thoughts even more stimulating than when we purposefully dwell on them. In sum, such efforts at suppression may not serve us well either emotionally or psychologically.

source: Petrie, Booth, & Pennebaker, 1998; Wegner, 1992; 1994: Wegner ctal., 1990.

Although Freud viewed psychoanalysis as part of the science of psychology, most of the early research was conducted by medical professionals in a therapeutic setting. Only much later did psychologists apply the field's traditional scientific techniques to the concepts of psychoanalysis. As we consider psychoanalytic concepts, we shall continue to see this struggle between the complex, uncontrolled observations of the clinical setting and me systematic, controlled study of phenomena in the laboratory. Indeed, of late, there has been considerable criticism of the uncontrolled nature of Freud's observations and the way he reported them: "Instead of n-ainmg scientists, Freud ended up train ing practitioners in a relatively fixed system of ideas" (Sulloway, 1991, p. 275).

PSYCHOANALYSIS:    We now consider the details of psychoanalytic theory, keeping in mind its A THEORY OF        emphasis on clinical investigations and a view of human functioning as the PERSONALITY        result of an interplay among forces.

STRUCTURE

What structural units does psychoanalytic theory use to account for human behavior? Freud provided not one, but two models of the structure of mind. The modek are closely related. One concerns the question of levels of ;on-

PSYCHOANALYSIS: A THEORY OF PERSONALITY

ness" Are the contents of mind something that we are aware of (con-scl <;) or not (unconscious)? The other concerns functional systems in the s£:10)- this is Freud's famous three-part model of id, ego, and superego. We rnl" pvi^v/ levels of consciousness and the concept of the unconscious, and h  turn to Freud's model of functional systems of personality.

The Concept of the Unconscious and levels of Csnsciousness

Tt ••; hard to overestimate the importance of the concept of the unconscious to svchoanalytic theory. To Freud, "Psychoanalysis aims at and achieves noth-' more than the discovery of the unconscious in mental life" (1924, p. 397). The concept of the unconscious suggests that there are aspects of our functioning of which we are not fully aware. The psychoanalytic theory of personality suggests that much of our behavior, perhaps the majority of it, is determined by unconscious forces, and that much of our psychic energy is devoted either to finding acceptable expression of unconscious ideas or to keeping them unconscious.

levels fl( Consciousness According to psychoanalytic theory, psychic life can be described in terms of the degree to which we are aware of mental phenomena. There are three levels of awareness. The conscious level involves phenomena of which we are aware at any given moment; the contents of this information about Freud that you currently are reading is part of your consciousness. The preconscious refers to mental contents of which we could become aware if we attended to them. For example, before reading the present sentence, you probably have not been thinking about your phone number; it was not part of your consciousness. But you easily could think of your phone number (indeed, you may be doing so right now!); it is a simple matter to attend to this information and bring it to consciousness. Prior to bringing it to consciousness, your phone number, and an unaccountably large number of additional mental contents, are preconscious. The third level is the unconscious. Unconscious mental contents are parts of the mind that we are unaware of and cannot become aware of except under special circumstances. sychoanalytic theory is particularly interested in contents that are uncon-ciqus because of their anxiety-provoking content. A fundamental idea of psy-^oanalync theory is that we have the goal of protecting ourselves against the

plishA'1530"'^'1 with some of our t1101^11^ and desires, and that we accom-inM» ,1 s go by ^P'ne these ideas outside of consciousness, storing them F^1"1 the unconscious..

"ncor^ciwasnot the first person to recognize that parts of mental life are in detail and    was'however-the first to explore qualities of unconscious life the analysis ">attribute "^J'or importance to them in our daily lives. Through •""i rituals f° ~'eams' ^'ps of the tongue, neuroses, psychoses, works of art, ^^t he fo'un?  ""^Pted to understand the properties of the unconscious. 'The unconsci was a ^"^''y of psychic life in which notliing was impossible.. ^ds time (eve"? lsalogical (oppcsites can stand for the same thing), disrc-and distance rel•  i£flersnt periods may coexist), and disregards space (size ^es and dk^"01"111^ are neglected so that large things fit into small

11 h in thediS ^ are ^"S^ together).

ent- Here We are m    tlle wo^kings of the unconscious become most appar-posed to the world of symbols, where many ideas may be

CHAPTER 3 A PSYCHODYNAMIC THEORY

telescoped into a single word, where a part of any object may stand for man-things. Through processes of symbolization, a penis can be represented by a| snake or nose, a woman by a church, chapel, or boat, and an octopus engulf. ing a mother. I: is through this process that we are allowed to think of writing as a sexual act—the pen is the male organ and the paper is the woman who receives the ink (the semen) that flows out in the quick up-and-down movements of the pen (Groddeck, 1923). In The Book of the It, Groddeck gives many fascinating examples of the workings of the unconscious and offers the following as an example of the functioning of the unconscious in his own life. .

1. I cannot recall her [my nurse's] appearance. I know nothing more than her name, Bertha, the shining one. But I have a clear recollection of the • day she went away. As a parting present she gave me a copper three^     ‘ pfennig piece. A Dreier… Since that day I have been pursued by the      • number three. Words like trinity, triangle, triple alliance, convey something disreputable to me, and not merely the words but the ideas attached to them, yes, and the whole complex of ideas built up around them by the capricious brain of a child. For this reason, the Holy Ghost, as (lie Third Person of the Trinity, was already suspect to me in early childhood: trigonometry was a plague in my school days… Yes, three is a sort of fatal number for me.

source: Groddeck, 1923, p. 9.

The Motivated Unconscious At its roots, psychoanalytic theory is a motivational theory of human behavior. As noted, the theory suggests that much of our behavior is motivated by unconscious influences. As will be discussed in greater detail later in the chapter, the suggestion is that some thoughts, feelings, and motives exist in the unconscious—rather than being part of conscious awareness—for motivated reasons. If these ideas were to enter conscious awareness, they would cause discomfort or psychological pain. Thus, in keeping with our basic desire to pursue pleasure and avoid pain, we seek to banish such thoughts from awareness. A. wide variety of thoughts may cause pain and thus, ‘ue kept out of consciousness; this might include, for example, traumatic memories; feelings of envy, hostility, or sexual desire directed toward a forbidden person; or a desire to harm a Joved one.

A critical feature of psychoanalytic theory is that unconscious thoughts influence conscious experience. Unconscious material expresses itself in our daily behavior. This occurs in a wide variety of ways: slips of the tongue, mis-perceptions, accidents, “out of character” or-seemingly irrational behavior, emotions that we cannot explain, and feelings of anxiety, depression, or guilt. In other words, our underlying “true” feelings and motives can express themselves despite our efforts to bury them in the unconscious. It is not just that there are parts of ourselves that we are unaware of but that these parts influence our daily behavior, often in ways that are perplexing to us and others.

Relevant Psychoanalytic Research The unconscious is never observed directly. What evidence, then, support the belief that there is an unconscious part of mind? Let us review the range of evidence that might be considered supportive of the concept of the unconscious, beginning with Freud’s clinical observations. Freud realized the importance of the unconscious after observing hypnotic phenomena. As is well known, people under hypnosis can recall things they

previously could not. Furthermore, they perform things under posthypnotic suggestion without consciously “knowing” that they are behaving in accor-iJar.ce with that suggestion; that is, they fully believe that what they are doing is voluntary and independent of any suggestion by another person. When Freud discarded the technique of hypnosis and continued with his therapeutic work, he found that often patients became aware of memories and wishes previously buried. Frequently, such discoveries were associated with painful emotion. It is indeed a powerful clinical observation to see a patient suddenly experience tremendous anxiety, sob hysterically, or break into a rage as he or she recalls a forgotten event or gets in touch with a forbidden feeling. Thus, it w” clinical observations such as these that suggested to Freud that the unconscious includes memoiiei and wishes that not only are not currently

1. rto our ronsciousness but are “deliberately buried” in our unconscious. i^s   ^ ^ “P®”™6111^ evidence? In the 1960s and 1970s experimental. with t      ^ on unconscious perception or what was called perception “e or s’n awareness- can the person “know” something without knowing that *^ influ e   •^s lt7 ^w exaInPle’ can ^s person hear or perceive stimuli, and ^trend’11^- bythese Perceptions, without Being aware of these perceptions? at a levpiIki ls talown as subliminal perception, or the registration of stimuli ^w. resc eIOW    Fsquired for awareness. For example, in some early rele-^aped bvrt ^ne ^”"P of subjects was shown a picture with a duck image ^”t without e ‘”^^c5 of a tree. Another group was shown a similar picture “^Pid speed     LIC^ image. For both groups the picture was presented at a Ian “PPatatu^A   jt was “”^y visible. Thk was done using a tachistoscope, at ^ows the experimenter to show stimuli to subjects at very

CHAPTER 3 A PSYCHODYNAMIC THEORY

CURRENT APPLICATIONS

FAILURE, UNHAPPINESS, AND UNCONSCIOUS MOTIVATION

In his study of “Those Wrecked by Success,” Freud described individuals who, because of feelings of guilt, fell ill once they had achieved some long-cherished wish. More recently, psy-choanalyst Roy Schafer has described the unconscious meanings that success, failure, happiness, and unhappiness can have for people. He suggests that repetitive failure and chronic unhappiness typically are self-inflicted rather than expressions of inescapable events. For example, in one case a man underachieved to ward off the envy of others, and in another case a young man pursued failure to protect the self-esteem of his unsuccessful

father “Thus, for this young man, failure was also a success of a kind, while being a success was also a failure.” In a third case, a woman was extremely self-sacriBcing to retain the love of others. Although the “pursuit of failure” and the “idealization of unhappiness” are seen as being found in members of both sexes, Schafer suggests that the former is more prevalent in men and the latter in women. This is not to say, however, that all cases of failure or unhappiness are motivated by the result of unconscious conflicts.

source: Schafer, 19S’«.

1. “Hi’s mil as hell. He has t/ii: neei to fsU tni he keefs {etthis froinotat.” DmwmgbyStMffiM:GJ1980I^Nw.’Yoi^Masa!f^rnc..    /;

PSYCHOANALYSIS: A THEORY OF PERSONALITY

cneeds, so that they cannot be consciously perceived. The subjects then

asked to close their eyes, ‘magine a nature scene, draw the scene, and ‘ler, ^e parts. Would the two groups differ, that is, would subjects in the ‘a e “seeing” the picture with the duck imagf draw diffc’-ent pir-’ures than 610 (5 in the other group? And, if so, would such a difference be associated s- differential recall as to what was perceived? What was found was that wl re of the subjects viewing the “duck” picture had significantly more duck-rn, ..j images (e.g., “duck,” “water,” “birds,” “feathers”) in their drawings re did subjects in the other group. However, these subjects did not report

than did suujc^la ui me uuici giuup. i-iuvvcvci, incAc &uojecu> aia noi report

seeing the duck during the experiment and the majority even had trouble finding it when they were asked to look for it. In other words, the stimuli that were not consciously perceived still influenced the imagery and thoughts of the sub-

.-.,- lV^a\f Wnlit7l,-l7 Kr K}fl,n   IQAft’l

iecis (Eagle, Wo’litzky, & Klein, 1965)

The mere fact that people can perceive and be influenced by stimuli of u’hich they are unaware does not suggest that psychodynamic or motivational forces are involved. Is there evidence that such is or can be the case? Two relevant lines of research can be noted. The first, called perceptual defense, involves a process by which the individual defends against the anxiety that accompanies actual recognition of a threatening stimulus. In a relevant early experiment, subjects were shown two types of wo’ Js in a tachistoscope: neutral v.’ords such as apple, dance, and child and emotionally toned words such as rape, v.’hore, and penis. The words were shov/n first at very fast speeds and then at progressively slower speeds. A record was made of the point at which the subjects were able to identify each of the words and their sweat gland activity (a measure of tension) in response to each word. These records indicated that subjects took longer to recognize the emotionally toned words than the neutral words and showed signs of emotional response to the emotionally toned words before they were verbally identified (McGinnies, 1949). Despite criticism of such research (e.g., did subjects identify the emotionally toned words earlier but were reluctant to verbalize them to the experimenter?), there Spears to be considerable evidence that people can, outside of awareness, selectively respond to and reject specific emotional stimuli (Erdelyi, 1984).

Another line of research has examined a phenomenon called subliminal Psychodynamic activation (Silvennan, 1976; 1982; Weinberger, 1992). In 1 is work, researchers attempt to stimulate unconscious wishes without making them conscious. This genendly.is done by presenting material that is relat-

1. o either threatening or anxiety-alleviating unconscious wishes and then extr8^^ i?^0113″115′ ^b^l11″11 reactions. The material is shown for sciou”^ y]i”,^ P^0^ of time’ in theory, long enough to activate the uncon-^e ofA1    short ^”"S11 so that u is not recognized consciously. In the conflict a ‘^^emns wishes> the material is expected to stir up unconscious ‘^•-aUcviati    •to mcrease psychological disturbance. In the case ofananx-and thu- to d8 M   the material is expected to diminish unconscious conflict AI” t-osine M ecreaSe P^0110!0^021! disturbance. For example, the content “I “Mornrnv anri t”a   might be “Psetting to some subjects, whereas the content

fo a ser£ of^^ ne” “ueht be “muring.

^hodynamic art——’ suvennan and colleagues produced such subliminal sent conflict intp ‘vatl011 sffects. In one study this method was used to pre-^”^emat-ri^^? material (“Loving Daddy Is Wrong”) and conflict-” -”^S Caddy Is OK”) to female undergraduates. For sub-

CHAPTER J A PSYCHODYNAM 1C TH EORY

jects prone to conflict over sexual urges, the conflict-intensifying material presented outside of awareness, was found to disrupt memory for passage. presented after the subliminal activation of the conflict. This was not true fo, the conflict-reducing material or for subjects not prone to conflict over sexy, al urges (Geisler, 1986). What is key here is that the content that is upsetting or relieving to various groups of subjects is predicted beforehand on the basis

of psychoanalytic theory and that the effects occur only when the stimuli are perceived subliminally or unconsciously.

Another interesting use of the subliminal psychodynamic activation model involves the study of eating disorders. In the first study in this area, healthy college-age women and women with signs of eating disorders were compared in terms of how many crackers they would eat following subliminal presentation of three messages: Mama Is Leaving Me, Mama Is Loaning It, Mona Is Loaning It (Patton, 1992). Based on psychoanalytic theory, the hypothesis tested wa-s that subjects with an eating disorder struggle with feelings of loss and abandonment in relation to nurturance and therefore would seek substitute gratification in the form of eating the crackers once the conflict was activated subliminally through the message “Mama Is Leaving Me.” Indeed, the eating disorder subjects who received the abandonment stimulus (Mama Is Leaving Me) below threshold showed significantly more cracker eating than subjects without an eating disorder or subjects with an eating disorder exposed to the abandonment stimulus above threshold. This study was replicated v/ith the additional use of pictorial stimuli—a picture of a sobbing baby and a woman walking away along v.’ith the “Mommy Is Leaving Me” message and a picture of a woman walking along with the neutral stimulus, in this case “Mommy Is Walking.” Once more, significantly more crackers were eaten by the women with eating disorders subliminally exposed to the abandonment phrase and picture than by the women with eating disorders exposed to these stimuli above threshold or by the women without an eating disorder exposed to the stimuli above or below threshold (Gerard, Kupper, & Nguyen, 1993). Once mere it was suggested ihat only when the stimuli were presented subliminally were they able to activate unconscious wishes and conflicts.

Some view the research on perceptual defense and subliminal psychodynamic activation as conclusive experimental evidence of the importance of psychodynamic, motivational factors in determining what is “deposited into” tnd “kept in” the unconscious (Weinberger, 1992). However, the experiments have freqi”‘ntly been criticized on methodological grounds, and at times some of the effects have been difficult to replicate or reproduce in other laboratories (Balay & Shevrin, 1988, 1989; Holender, 1986).

Current Statics of the Concept of the Unconscious The concept of a motivated unconscious continues to lie at the heart of psychoanalytic theory. How is the concept viewed, more generally by psychologists in the field? At this point almost all psychologists, whether psychoanalytic or otherwise, would agree that many mental events occur outside of conscious awareness and that unconscious processes influence what we attend to and how we feel. For example, consider the view uf a leading contemporary researcher who is now a follower of psychoanalytic theory: “Our conclusion, perhaps discomforting for the layperson, is that unconscious influences are ubiquitous. It is clear that people sometimes consciously plan and act. More often than not, however, behav-

PSYCHOANALYSIS: A THEORY OF PERSONALITY

, Ly unconscious processes; that is, we act and then, if ques-

1. ^”"”k.e’our excuses” (Jacoby et a!., 1992, p. 82). oned, maKc   ,,,norary evidence of unconscious influences on everyday

1. Striking con ^^ ^^ ^y ^g social psychologist John Bargh and his col-ghavior corn  1997). For example, in one experiment research participants .agues (Barg ^ ^^ .mother individual. Unbeknownst to the participant, the rorked on^^ ^35 part of the study—an experimental “confederate.” This ther in i ^jy^ited very poor abilities on the task. In this setting, then, the °    Git faced two conflicting goals. On the one hand, there is the goal of arucip      ^ supposed to perform as well as possible. On the other hand,

“sa personal or affiliation goal: Performing well might make the other lere who is doing poorly, feel bad, so one might achieve the goal of affiliat-^”•it’h the individual by lowering one’s own performance. Bargh and col-puc- (Bargh & Bamdollar, 1996) manipulated the goals in a manner that did nt call participants’ conscious attention to them. Prior to the study, partici-ants were asked to complete a word puzzle. In different experimental condi-ons the words in the puzzle were related either to achievement or to affilia-on The idea is that the words would activate one versus the other goal, even participants were unaware that this activation of goal contents was occur-ng. As predicted, compared to affiliation goals, activating achievement goals i the word puzzle caused participants to solve more problems when working n the task with the other individual. Importantly, participants in the study did lot report being aware of the influence of the word puzzle task. Thus, their ictions were caused by a goal of which they were not consciously aware.

1. ie Psychoonalylk Unionsdoui and the Cognilive Unconscious There is an important point d consider about this study (Bargh & Bamdollar, 1996) and many others like it. )n the one hand, the study demonstrates nonconscious influences on behavior, s Freud would have predicted. On the other hand, the content of the uncon-Gious material in the study had little, if anything, to do with the material stud-id by Freud. Bar^h and colleagues did not manipulate thoughts of sex or Sgression. They did not study people’s emotional reactions to material of deep isychological significance. Instead, they manipulated everyday social goals on a nMdane laboratory task. Their findings, then, indicate the existence of uncon-c’;us influences, but these are unconscious influences that may have litt!s to o with the psychological experiences discussed by Freud. This distinction— »- ween the traumatic sexual and aggressive unconscious content of interest to em”      ^le ^^’^y mundane unconscious content studied by many con-•houldy ^esearc^e^s m personality and social psychology—suggests that one ailed .i1311″811″11 between the psychoanalytic unconscious and what has been

As wel00^^6 “”"^”o1″‘ (Kihistrom, 1990, 1999; Pervin, 2003). ”rational ^ seen’ ^ P^hf^-slytic ‘•new of the unconscious emphasizes the )f Ae un’1 oelw “‘^”re of unconscious functioning. In addition, the contents ‘ggre^sive t^010!”8 are P^1™^ by analysts mainly to involve sexual and “•’hat is in th o^g?’ ^slings, and motives. Final!;’, analysts emphasize that

xert a mot’v^t11″00115001″ is there fx?r niotivated reasons and these contents 0 Ae cngi—   Iw “^uence on daily behavior. In contrast to this, according • lualify betwe^0 vlew of tlle “”"nscious there is no fundamental diffe ;ence in ^conscious n “^”"^dous and conscious processes. According to this view, processes can be as intelligent, logical, and rational as conscious

CHAPTER 3 A PSYCHODYNAMIC THEORY

1. Table 3.1   Coinpflrison of Two Views of the Unconscious: Psychoanalytic ond Cognitive Psychoanalytic View .    Cognitive View
2. 1- Emphasis on illogical, irrational          I. Absence of fundamental differen< unconscious processes,                    between conscious and unconscir processes.

2. Content emphasis on motives and wishes. 2. Content emphasis on thoughts.

1. 3. Emphasis on motivated aspects of        3. ^ocus on nomnotivated aspects o iin-^”———^–’ •                     unconscious functioning.

processes. Second, the cognitive view of the unconscious emphasizes the vari. ety of contents that may be unconscious, with no special significance associat. ed with sexual and aggressive contents. Third, related to this, the cognitive view of the unconscious does not emphasize motivational factors. According to the cognitive view, cognitions are unconscious because they cannot be processed at the conscious level, because they never reached consciousness, or because they have become overly routinized and automatic. For example, tying one’s shoe is so automatic that we no longer are aware of just how we do it. We act similarly with typing and where letters are on the keyboard. Many of our cultural beliefs were learned in such subtle ways that we cannot even spell them out as beliefs. As noted in Chapter 1, we are not even aware of them until we meet members of a different culture. However, such unconscious contents are not kept there for motivated reasons. Nor do they necessarily exert a motivational influence on our behavior. Finally, there is evidence that subliminal stimuli can affect our thoughts and feelings but these stimuli need not be of special

psychodynamic significance such as a threatening wish (Klinger & Greenwald, 1995; Nash, 1999) (Table 3.1).

Many of these contrasting views are captured in the following statement by Kihistrom, a leading proponent of the cognitive view of the unconscious:

The psychological unconscious documented by latter-day psychology is quite different from what Sigmund Fre’-'d and his psychoanalytic colleagues had in mind in Vienna. Their unconscious was hot and wet; it seethed with lust and anger; it was hallucinatory, primitive, and irrational. The unconscious of contemporary psychology is kinder and gentler than that and more readily bound and rational, even if it is not entirely cold and dry.

source: Kihistrom, Bamhardt, & Tataryn. 1992, p. 78S.

Although efforts are being made to integrate the psychoanalytic and cognitive views of the unconscious (Bomstein & Masling, 1998; Epstein, 1994; Westen & Gabbard, 1999), generally these differing points of view remain. In sum-although the importance of unconscious phenomena is recognized, and the investigation of such phenomena has become a major area of research, the uniquely psychoanalytic view of the unconscious remains questionable for many, perhaps most, nonpsychoanalytic investigators.

Id, Ego, and Superego In 1923 Freud developed a more formal structural model for psychoanalysis. It featured three personality structures: the id. the ego> and the superego. Each refers to a different aspects of people’s functioning.

PSYCHOANALYSIS: A THEORY OF PERSONALITY

.,   resents the source of all drive energy. The energy for a person’s The ‘ ne originally resides in the life and death, or sexual and aggressive fzinctioni ^^ ^ p^ ^ ^g ij In its functioning, the id seeks the release

‘”””"ration, tension, -id energy. It operates according to the pleasure prin-01 exc ^i^ch js particularly simple to define: the id pursues pleasure and clp ds pain. The point is that the id does not do anything else. In does not ‘Tvi’se plans and strategies for obtaining pleasure, or wait patiently for a par-

ularlyp’-easing object to appear. Instead, it seeks immediate tension release. ” ^3 qualities of a spoiled child: It wants what it wants when it wants it. The ., cannot tolerate frustration and is free of inhibitions. It shows no regard for reality and can seek satisfaction through action or through imagining that it i „<• r,nttpn what it wants: the fantasv of eratirif-arinn ic ->c n^^ i- a» –*..-i

——- —–—, –o–, • —”—, -”^*-t”->, ^»i ‘-i-iui^. in sum, me

I’d ^’demanding, impulsive, blind, irrational, asocial, selfish, and finally, pleasure-loving.

In marked contrast to the id is the superego, which represents the moral branch of our functioning. The superego contains ideals for which we strive, as well as punishments (guilt) we expect if we violate ethical codes. The superego, then, is an internal representation of the moral rules of the external, social world. It functions to control behavior in accord with these rules, offering rewards (pride, self-love) for “good” behavior and punishments (guilt, feelings of inferiority) for “bad” behavior. The superego may function on a very primitive level, being relatively incapable of reality testing—that is, of modifying its action depending on circumstances. In such cases, the person is unable to distinguish between thought and action, feeling guilty for thinking something even if it did not lead to action. Furthermore, the individual is bound by black-white, ail-none judgments and by the pursuit of perfection. Excessive use of words such as good, bad, judgment, and trial express a strict superego But the superego can also be understanding and flexible. For example, people may be able to forgive themselves or someone else if it is clear that something was an accident or done under severe stress. In the course of development. children leam to make such important distinctions and to see things not only in all-or-none, right-or-wrong, black-or-white terms.

The third psychoanalytic structure is the ego. Whereas ths id seeks pleasure .’” tlle ^Perego seeks perfection, the ego seeks reality The ego’s function is express and satisfy the desires of the id in accordance with two things:

1. opportunities and constraints that exist in the real world, and the demands of ego upereg”‘ ^ereas the id operates according to the pleasure principle, the ‘s dela”^ a.ccordme to the reality principle: gratification of the instincts “laximu “1″    time at which something in reality enables one to obtain example”1 p easure.wIul the least pain or negative consequences. As a simple toward so28′   wyes ln the id may impel you to make a sexual advance “”npulsivel”300″6 you ^m(^ attractive. But the ego may stop you from acting y°u might a1 t^n  molutor feality, judging whether there is any chance that that “light b0   y succee<i and delaying action until it develops a strategy id may be bl 16 success- Aecording to the reality principle, the energy of the ^mands of reaT’    rted’ or released gradually, ail in accordance with the the Pleasure r- • and the “”P®”^0- such an operation does not contradict “^ons in Ge?   e> but rather represents a temporary suspension of it. It rge “emard Shaw’s words, so as “to be able to choose the line

“Double Scotches for me and my super-ego, and a floss of water for my id., which is driving.”

Psychoanalytic Theory: Freud emphasised the concepts of id, ego, and superego as structures of personality. (Drawing by Handslsman; © 1972 The New Yorker Magazine, Inc.)

of greatest advantage instead of yielding in the direction of least resistance.” The ego is able to separate wish from fantasy, can tolerate tension and compromise, and changes over time. Accordingly, it expresses the development of perceptual and cognitive skills, the ability to perceive more and think in more complex terms. For example, a person can begin to think in terms of the future and what is best in the long run. AH these qualities are in contrast with the unrealistic, unchanging, demanding qualities of the id.

Although the ego may sound like the decision-maker, or the “executive,” of . personality, Freud-thought that the ego was weaker than the metaphor of executive implies. Instead, a central metaphor of psychoanalysis is that the ego is like a rider on a wild horse (the id). The horse provides all the energy. The rider tries to direct it. But, ultimately, the more powerful beast may end up going wherever it wants. Freud himself spent relatively little time investigating (he ego, instead thinking that is was more valuable to investigate in detail the influence of the powerful forces of the id; as we will see in our next chapter, this differentiates Freud’s work from that of subsequent psychodynamic theorists, who were more concerned with ego functioning.

In sum, Freud’s ego is logical, rational, and tolerant of tension. In its actions, it is subject fo control by three masters: the id, the superego, and the worid of reality. •

PSYCHOANALYSIS: A THEORY OF PERSONALITY

1. nts of conscious, unconscious, id, ego, and superego are highly The concep    ^ always defined v.-ith great precision. Furthermore, there abstra01 an ^(-[anty because the meaning of some concepts changed as the is somelac      ^ ^ exact nature of the change in meaning was never iheorv deve ^'^^ 1961). Finally, it should be clear that these are concep-
2. spel   "^/of phenomena. Freud provided psychology with a picturesque, tualwtio        ^ conceptualizing mental functioning. But the concrete-concrete ^   3g^ should not mislead one into simply assuming that there ness ° n entity in your mind, and everyone else's, that exactly corresponds to TUeudian terminology. There is no energy plant inside us with a little per-ontroUing its power. We do not "have" an iu, ego, and superego in [he way t"! we have a head, torso, and heart. Instead, according to the theory there Qualities of human behavior that are usefully conceptualized in these iructural terms. The structures achieve greater defiiiition in relation to the processes implied in them, and it is to these processes that we now turn.

PROCESS

In Chapter 1, we explained that personality theories contain two parts: analyses of personality structures and of personality processes. The id, ego, and superego are personality structures; they are conceptualizations of enduring mental systems. We now consider the process aspects of psychoanalytic theory, that is, its conceptualization of motivational dynamics.

As noted, Freud viewed the person as an energy system that obeyed the same laws as other energy systems. Energy may be altered and transformed, but it never "just disappears." Even in transformation, it essentially remains the same energy. According to the theory, the source of al! psychic energy lies in states of excitation within the body that seek expression and tension reduction. These states are called instincts, or drives. They represent constant, inescapable mental forces.

Within this framework, two questions na'u;-ally arise; (1) Ho'.'.' many types or energy are there? If energy is conceived of as an instinct or drive, this ques-_n is how many basic human instincts are there, and what are they? (2)

at happens to this energy? In other words, how is it expressed in everyday experience and action?

^"•"lOealh Instincts

1. family rn^ y • y011 ^^S6 m a ^de variety of activities involving friends, Since these d"^0 partners' sducation, work, sports, arts, music, and so forth. ^mpted to im erent activities seem ^sic to human functioning, you might be instinct to h a51^ t^at eac^ activltv ls associated with a "basic instinct" (an 'nstinct rnodei^     ds' to ^"d with family, etc.). But this sort of "multi-

out his career F13 n?the sort of ^"O'that Freud pursued. Instead, through-of a v>;ry smajj reud tried to explain the diversity of human activity in terms

°0' We preview'e"!1" p^ instin<-ts• He worked toward exactly the sort ot the-' are ""derstood thln "bp^ ^. in which the complexities of human behavior

1. o. ^ugh Preudal   a theory that is ^at^y ^P10-

aslc 'lionets ord^triea to ^P^ oehwior in terms of a small number wives, his thoughts about the exact nature of these drives

CHAPTER 3 A PSYCHODYNAM1C THEORY

changed during his career. In an earlier view, he proposed ego instincts, re ing to tendencies toward self-preservation, and sexual instincts, relating to i dencies toward preservation of the species. In a later view—which stands as i final, classic psychoanalytic model—there were still two instincts, but y, were the life and death instincts. The life instinct included drives associaf previously with both the earlier ego and sexual instincts; in other words, the t instincts impel people toward the preservation and reproduction of the orga ism. Freud gave a name to the energy of the life instinct: libido.

The death instinct is the very opposite of the life instinct. In involves tl aim of the organism to die or return to an inorganic state. (No name has con to be commonly associated with the energy of the death instinct.) At an inti itive level, it may immediately strike you that the notion of a "death instinct is unusual if not implausible. Why would people have an instinct to die? Sue] intuitions would match those of many psychologists, including many psycho analysts; the death instinct remains one of the most controversial and leas. accepted parts of psychoanalytic theory. Yet the idea of a death instinct was consistent with some ideas of 19th-century biology with which Freud was familiar (Sulloway, 1979) and also, Freud felt, was consistent with observations of the human condition. Sadly, many people escape psychological problems through suicide, which can be understood as a manifestation of a drive to die. Furthermore, Freud felt that the death instinct was often turned away from oneself and directed toward others in acts of aggression. This occurs so commonly that some analysts refer to the instinct as an aggressive instinct.

This model of motivation processes is highly integrated with Freud’s model of psychoanalytic structures. The sexual and death/aggressive drives are parts of one of the psychoanalytic structures, namely, the id. The id, as you will recall, is the first of the personality structures, that is, the one with which we are bom. An implication, then, is that sexual and aggressive drives are part of the basic human nature that we are born with. We do not have to leam to have sexual and death/aggressive drives. We are bom with them. To Freud, our psychological lives are essentially powered by these two basic drives.

The Dynamics of Functioning

If one posits only two instinctual drives, one faces an intellectual puzzle: How can one account for the diversity of motivated human activities, many of which do not seem obviously related to sex or aggression. Freud solved tlu5 puzzle with a creative and often highly insightful model of the dynamics uf psychological functioning. Freud’s analysis of dynamics addresses the question of what happens to instinctual energy, that is, how the energy can be modified prior to its expression in observable behavior.

In psychoanalytic theory, the instincts are characterized as aiming at the immediate reduction of tension, at achieving satisfaction and pleasure. In this way, the instincts have an “animalistic* quality to them. However, unlike animals, people are capable of delaying and modifying instincts before they are expressed. Different people also may differ, one from another, in their chaiac-teristic ways of modifying instinctual energy, and these differences underlie much of the uniqueness of personal functioning, according to Freud.

In the dynamics of functioning, what exactly can happen to one’s instincts? They can, at least temporarily, be blocked from expression, expressed to a modified way, or expressed without modification. For example, affection may

PSYCHOANALYSIS: A THEORY OF PERSONALITY

1. “y^g ^,ith one another. Football, for example, can gratify instincts can      g^,ve instincts; in surgery there can be the fusion of love both sexua^^^^ ^ should already be clear how psychoanalytic theory is able and des r”    ^ ^y^ behavior on the basis of only two instincts. It is the to accounIg changing qualities of the instincts and their many alternative ^’d ^”eratification that allow such variability in behavior. In essence, the

‘ «,tinct can be gratified in a number of ways and the same behavior can ^^different causes in different people.

Vrtualiv every process in psychoanalytic theory can be described in terms of the expenditure of energy in an object or in terms of a force inhibiting the expenditure of energy, that is, inhibiting gratification of an instinct. Because it-involves an expenditure of energy, people who direct much of their efforts toward inhibition end up feeling tired and bored. The interplay between expression and inhibition of instincts forms the foundation of the dynamic aspects of psychoanalytic theory. The key to this is the concept of anxiety. In psychoanalytic theory, anxiety is a painful emotional experience representing a threat or danger to the person. In a state of “free-float’ ns” anxiety, individuals are unable to relate their state of tension to an external object; in contrast, in a state of fear, the source of tension is known. Freud had two theories of anxiety. In tlie first theory, anxiety was viewed as a result of undischarged sexual impulses—dammed-up libido. In the later theory, anxiety represented a painful emotion that acted as a signal of impending danger to the ego. Here, anxiety, an ego function, alerts the ego to danger so that it can act.

1. The psychoanalytic theory of anxiety states that at some poini. the person experiences a trauma, an incident of harm or injury. Anxiety represents a repetition of die earlier traumatic experience, but in miniature form. Anxiety in the present, then, is related to an earlier danger. For example, the child may e severely punished for some sexual or aggressive acb Later in life, the person may experience anxiety in association with the inclination to perform the ^ame sexual 01 aggressive act. The earlier punishment (“trauma) may or may deve’ e remembered- In structural terms, what is suggested is that anxiety of i-01″!01″ of a conflict between the push of the id instincts and the threat suoerp’      , y the ^Psrego. That is, it is as if the id savs “I want it,” the v rego says How terrible,” and the ego says Tm afraid.”"

C^S^0^0’0^ ^porory Research on Defensive Processes      .

How are’^”011 a)painful state that we are incapable of tolerating it for very long.

^”al and ae°   • with such a state? If- as Freud ^Sgssts, our mmds harbor manage not tobF’^ -instincts that are socially unacceptable, then how do we ‘”tes one of the  anxious a11 the time? Freud’s answer to this question consti-

1. that we ^entallv^”^”"1^ asp>ects ofhis ^”^ ofpereonality. He proposed “^elop defense    i, ‘ <)’Jrselves against anxiety-provoking thoughts. People ltv and exclude c.r”"”11511″5 against anxiety. We develop ways to distort real-^”ngs from awareness so that we do not feel anxious. These

CHAPTER 3 A PSYCHOUYNAMIC THEORY

defense mechanisms are functions carried out by the ego; they are a strategic effort by the ego to cope with the socially unacceptable impulses of the id.

n – “.I

Denial

Some things are too terrible to be true.

Bob Dylan !

Freud distinguished among a number of distinct defense mechanisms. Some of them are relatively simple, or psychologically primitive, whereas others are more complex. A particularly simple defense mechanism is denial People may, in their conscious thoughts, deny the existence of a traumatic or otherwise socially unacceptable fact; the fact is so “terrible” that they deny that it is “true,” as Dylan’s lyric above suggests. People may begin using the defense mechanism of denial in childhood. There may be denial of reality, as in a girl who denies she lacks a penis or in the boy, who, in fantasy, denies a lack of power, or denial of an internal impulse, as when an irate person protests “I do not feel angry.” The saying that someone “doth protest too much” gives specific reference to this defense. Denial of reality is commonly seen where people attempt to avoid recognizing the extent of a threat. The expression “Oh, no!” upon hearing of the death of a close friend represents the reflex action of denial. Children have been known to deny the death of a loved animal and long afterward to behave as if it were still alive. When Edwin Meese, former attorney general in tlie Reagan administration, was asked how much he owed in legal bills, he replied, “I really don’t know. It scares me to look at it, so I haven’t looked at it.” The mother of former U.S. President Bill Clinton was quoted as saying “When bad things happen, I brainwash myself to put them out of my mind. Inside my head, I construct an airtight box. I keep inside it what I want to think about and everything else stays behind the walls. Inside is white, out side is black. The only gray I trust is the streak in my hair.” A friend of the authors organizes her mail into thiee “in boxes” on her desk that are labeled “Unimportant Stuff,” “Important Stuff,” and “Stuff I’m Afraid to Look At>”

FBW MOW ON. \ ISN’T THM A (tOTf HA NOT G01M6 SELT-OKENIHS MM 10 WINK ABWT TO GO THtSXKU Urt? WUWHG THKK.

Denial. (CALVIN AND HOBBES © Watterson. Dist, by UNIVERSAL PRESS SYNDI-CATE. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.)

1. •

PSYCHOANALYSIS: A THEORY OF PERSONALITY

•dance may be conscious, but later it becomes automatic and Initially. SLlch avo^ ^e person is not even aware of “noLjooking.” jnconscious, so . ^ ^^ ^^ when people say or assume that “It can’i happen

1. Denial or realLy ^ gyjjgnce of impending doom. This defense was seen in o me” ln SPlte ° ,.^ of [he Nazis. Steiner( 1966), in his book on the N.?'7! con-lews who were vi  y^^^ describes how the population acted as if death did ^ntration    P    ^ evidence to the contrary. He notes that the extermina-

•iot exJst•lnspl opie was so unimaginable that the people could not accept 11. ton ot a wn  ^-^^ ^ ^^ ^an to bear the terrible trauma of the truth.

rh?' ^her illustration of denial of reality has to do with how people cope with °i •ctable disasters such as earthquakes. For some time, a major earth-^kehas been predicted for southern California. In 1983, the University of '"nfomia at Los Angeles commissioned a panel to study the vulnerability of

•'ampus buildings to such an event. The results of the panel's findings were videly distributed in a report to the univei-sity community. A study of individ-lals who were aware of the report and the danger found that respondents in he very poor structures were significantly more likely to deny the seriousness if the situation and to doubt the experts' predictions than were respondents n the better structures. In addition, both groups showed ignorance of basic

•arthquake safety information and had taken no measures to prepare for an

•arthquake. It was concluded, "The results of this study suggest that individu-ils at risk for a catastrophic event whose occurrence is highly likely, but whose iming is unknown, may cope with that threat by ignoring or denying the seri-lusness of the situation." That respondents were typically aware of the threat ind that residents of very poor seismic structures showed more questioning ind denial than individuals in good seismic structures suggest that these per-:eptions are efforts to cope with the event, rather than a result of simple igno-

•ance or misinformation" (Lehman & Taylor, 1987, pp. 551, 553).

Is denial necessarily a bad thing? Should we always avoid self-deception? Psychoanalysis generally assume that although the mechanisms of defense :an be useful in reducing anxiety, they also are maladaptive in turning the person away from reality. Recall that in Chapter 2 there was discussion of defensive subjects with an illusion of mental health who- showed signs of greater .tress than either healthy subjects or nondefensive psychologically unhealthy

•uojccts (Shedler, Mayman, & Manis, 1993). Thus, psychoanalysis view "real-y orientation as fundamental to emotional health and they doubt that dis-

;Co]vi’^awut oneself and others can have ^lue for adaptive functions

•Col^n & Block, 1994; Robins & John, 1996).

»ften baseTo^T1101^5″- suggest that P05″^ illusions and self-deceptions, daptive For  ‘i or simil?lr distortions of reality, can be constructive and bout onesabn-r^1′  ” ls ^Se^d that positive illusions about one’s self, ssential for mpnn^”^0 events’and about the ^ture can be good, perhaps

994; Taylor et ailnnn1, (Taylor & Annor’ 1996; ^^ & Brown- 1988′ ^pend on the extentfl-    • answer to these differing views appears to mder which it occui^r    rtipn’ h(w P®”^”^ ^ is, and the circumstances [wu<- oneself y ion- ^'^inpis, it raay be helpful to have positive illusions

lo^,lIlay Provide temi^r.^ T not t00 (^me. And, denial and self-decep-.vold becoming overwh^.,?-^ fr6m emotional trauma and help the person ve ^here action is itr1^ y anxiety or depression. Denial may be adap, -pwsiole, as when a person is in a situation that cannot

CHAPTER 3 A PSYCHODYNAM1C Tl IbORY

Denial and Addiction: One of the most frequently cited characteristics of alcoholics and drug addicts is denial Former Brooklyn Dodger pitcher Johnny Podres describes how he'd come home drunk, his mother would say he was an alcoholic, and he'd say "Not me." Anotherfnrmer Dodger pitcher, Don Hewcomhe, also a reformed alcoholic, describes how he and his drinking buddies would all deny their problem: "That's part of the syndrome— the denial syndrome." And in seeking to understand why N. Y. Mets pitcher Dwight Gooden would agree to be tested for cocaine use when he was using cocaine, one expert suggested that 'massive denial is the hallmark of cocaine addiction. There is some denial in all addictions, hut it is probably greatest in cocaine abuse." (The New York Times» July 30, . 1983, and April 4, 1987)

be altered (e.g., a fatal illness). On the other hand, denial certainly is maladap-tive when it prevents one from taking constructive action, as when denial prevents one from taking signs of illness seriously and obtaining proper treatment

Projection Another relatively primitive defense mechanism is projection. In projection, what is internal and unacceptable is projected out and seen as external. People defend against the recognition of their own negative qualities by projecting them on to others. For example, rather than recognize hostility in . the self, an individual sees others as being hostile. Much laboratory research has been devoted to the study of projection. At first, researchers found it dim-cult to demonstrate the phenomenon in the lab (Halpem, I977;Holmes, 1981). However, in more recent years investigators have documented that, in fact, people tend to project their undesired psychological qualities onto others.

.Newman and colleagues have studied projection by analyzing specific thinidng processes that might lead people to project their, undesired qualities

PSYCHOANALYSIS: A THEORY OF PERSONALITY

1. h rs CNewman, Duff, & Baumeister, 1997). The basic idea is that peo-anto °     dwell on those features of themselves that they do not like. pie ten      dwells on a topic, the topic comes to mind easily—in the .lan-V/henever   ^g^ch, the topic becomes "chronically accessible" (Higgins & guage °    g^ ^ q^ think that you are "lazy," and you dwell on this feature Ki"gi(: then the concept of "laziness" might come to mind relatively quickly 0 ^frequently for you. This reasoning puts one just one step away from the

h omenon of projection. This final step is that, whenever one interprets the p t' ns of other people, one does so by using concepts in one's own mind. If ac ' interprets other's actions using ideas that also are negative features of °ne's own self-concept, then one ends up "projecting" these negative features

to others. To return to our example, if "laziness" comes to mind quickly for vou and you see a person sitting on a beach in the middle of a workday, you mie'ht conclude that they are a "lazy" person. Someone else, in contract, might merely conclude that the person is relaxing, rather than being lazy.

Experimental findings support this interpretation of projection (Newman et al. 1997). In this research, participants were exposed to bogus negative feedback on two personality attributes. They then were asked to try to suppress thoughts about one of the two attributes while they discussed the other one; such thought-suppression instructions often "backfire," causing people subsequently to think about the personal quality that they were trying to suppress. Later in the experimental session, participants viewed a videotape that depicted a somewhat anxious-looking individual. Participants were asked to rate this person on a series of personality trait dimensions. Findings revealed that participants projected their suppressed negative quality onto others. In other words, they judged that the other person possessed the negative personality attribute that they themselves had been trying not to think about earlier in the experiment.

The work of Newman et al. (1997) highlights a theme that we have seen earlier in this chapter. On the one hand, their findings confirm an intuition of Freud's: People sometimes defend against their own negative qualities by projecting these qualities onto others. On the other hand, their work does not directly confirm the exact account of defensive processing provided by Freud. unlike expectations based on Freudian theory, the findings of Newman et al. 11 lndicate that projection occurs with respect to relatively mundane psychological qualities (e.g., lazy") that are not in any obvious way connected to

N^w'    sexual instincts of the i<± Furthermore, in explaining their findings, pies ^f^ et ^' ^1997^ "fy on explanatory principles that are based on princi-than,' s    wgnitive psychology (discussed in Chapters 12 and 13) rather tt^ on principles of psychoanalysis.

1. srway^de^ {wmaliw'aad Sublimation In addition to denial and projection, anoth-ernotion from ^ anxiety and threat is to isolate events in memory or to isolate thought or an- content °^ a memory or impulse. In isolation, the impulse, swompan^one ls not denied ac:cess to consciousness, but it is denied the normal ^^ "rsteinri"011)0'1' For '""""P1®' a woman may experience the thought or of "^ng themec!8 ^^^^ut say assodated feelings of anger The result Bought over ernof81" of ^^"on is intellectualization, an emphasis on ' "^nts. In such cac   Mld ^^g. and the development of logic-tight compart-a nla" separatesvv     • feelin8s that do e3dst ""V be ^^ as in the case where sex and the other w^11^0 two ^tcgorics. one with whom there is love but no w"o"•» there is sex but no love (Madonna-whore complex).

CIIAPTIiR 1 A PSYCHOUVNAMICTHEOKV

CURRENT APPLICATIONS

DENIAL: HEALTHY OR SICK? ADAPTIVE OR MALADAPTIVE? -

Should v.'e avoid self-deception? Is knowing all there is to know a sign of health? Psychoanalysis generally assume that although the mechanisms of defense are useful in reducing anxiety, they also are maladap-tive in turning a person away from reality. For example, consider the potentially damaging effects of denial. A person who denies threatening signs may not be in a position to respond adaptively. Thus, women who discover a lump in their breast and delay going to a doctor because of denial of the possible seriousness of the lump may seriously reduce the chances of surgical success. Or men who deny the sympicms of a heart attack and contiuuf to exercise or climb stairs may turn out to have made a fatal mistake.

However, there is evidence that denial ?nd self-deception can also be constructive and adaptive. For example, take the person who has had a severe, incapacitating illness such as polio or cancer. Denial and self-deception can provide temporary relief from the emotional trauma and help the person to avoid being overwhelmed by anxiety, depression, or anger. Defensive processes can then facilitate optimism, and thereby allow constructive participation in rehabilitative efforts. In this case, denial as a coping process can be adaptive. It can be good for your health!

What sense can one make out of this conflicting evidence? It has been suggested that denial generally is maladaptive where it interferes with action that might otherwise improve the person's condition. However, denial generally is adaptive where action is impossible or irrelevant and where excessive emotion may interfere with recuperative efforts. Should the doctor tell all to ihe patient? Evidently this depends not only on the above factors, but also on the patient's personality. Some people seek out information and function best when they are fully informed. Other people avoid information and function best when they know only what is essential. In other words, denial may or may not be adaptive, depending on the circumstances, and information may or may not be helpful, depending on the person's coping style.

source: Lazanis, 1993; Miller & Mangan, 1983; Robins & John, 1996; Taylor, 1989; Taylor & Armor, 1996.

Denial: &w much information is useful to the patient?

PSYCHOANALYSIS: A THEC: OF PERSONALITY

1. , jefense mechanism of isolation also often use the people v''^0 use .   Vere the individual magically undoes one act or wish ^echanism of"" ° y^ ^ negative magic in which the individuals second ..,ith another. It is -   ^ g^ ^ ^^ ^ manner that it is as though nei-aci abrogates "^"^.eas in reality both have done so" (A. Freud, 1936, p. ther had takenp^ „ seen in compulsions in which the person has an irre-53) This mecn ^     ^ ^g ^ (e.g., the person undoes a suicide or sistible impu^ ,,„ compulsively turning off the gas jets at home), in relics rivals, and in children's sayings such as "Don't step on the crack or
2. g1011 hn»ak vour mothers back." ^r    action formation, the individual defends against expression of an

"ceotable impulse by only recognizing and expressing its opposite. This ^Tnse is evident in socially desirable behavior that is rigid, exaggerated, and noropriate The person who uses reaction formation cannot admit to other feel'i'nes such as overprotective movers who cannot allow any conscious hostility toward their children. Reaction formation is most clearly observable when the defense breaks down, as when the model boy shoots his parents or when the man who "wouldn't hurt a fly" goes on a killing rampage. Of similar interest here are the occasional reports of judges who commit crimes or of pious religious figures who engage in inappropriate sexual conduct.

A defense mechanism that you may recognize in yourself is rationalization. Rationalization is a more complex, "mature" defense mechanism than is a process such as denial in that, in rationalization, people do not simply deny that a thought or action occurred. In rationalization people recognize the existence of an action, but distort its underlying motive. Behavior is reinterpreted so that it appears reasonable and acceptable; the ego, in other words, constructs a rational motive to explain an unacceptable action that is actually caused by the irrational impulses of the id. Particularly interesting is that with rationalization the individual can express the dangerous impulse, seemingly without disapproval by the superego. Some of the greatest atrocities of humankind have been committed in the name of love. Through the defense of rationalization, we can be hostile while professing love, immoral in the pursuit of morality.

1. Another device used to express an impulse of the id in a manner that is free of anxiety is sublimation. In tilis relatively complex defense mechanism, the angina, object of gratification is replaced by a higher cultural goal that is far emoved from a direct expression of the instinct. Whereas the other defense s,.;^113"15 meet the instincts head ou and, by and large, prevent discharge, in the o^ cm f  mstinct is turned mto a new and useful channel. In contrast to slant en^       "echanisms, here the ego does not have to maintain a con-as a subl-?!0"'1'"*'!'0 prevellt oischarge. Freud interpreted daVinci's Madonna ^xer canre^emg for his mother Becoming a surgeon, butcher, or impulses. BeS^^' sublilnations. to a greater or lesser degree, of aggressive tendencies Iril^ psyctotrist can represent a sublimation of "Peeping Tom" tained in a Doxr>-asnoted- ^ud felt that the essence of civilization is con-"'preisio        ns      to subumate sexual and aggressive energies.

°"fy t^^,^mmv'wmes which he WOUJd not tell to everyone but reve^ even to his f6 ?°f other mafters w his mind which he would not I'vnd.but only to himself, and that in secret. But there

are other things which a man is afraid to tell wen to himself, and every decent man has a number of such things stored away in his mind.

Dostoyevsky's Hotes from the Underground

Finally, we come to the major defense mechanism of psychoanalytic theory:

repression. In repression, a thought, idea, or wish is dismissed from consciousness. It is so traumatic and threatening to the self that it is buried in the unconscious, "stored away" in the depths of the mind. Repression is viewed as playing a part in all the other defense mechanisms and, like these other defenses, requires a constant expenditure of energy to keep that which is dangerous outside of consciousness.

Freud first recognized the defense mechanism of repression in his therapeutic work. After many weeks or months of therapy, patients would remember traumatic events from their past (and experience a catharsis, as "'e discussed earlier). Prior to recalling the event, the idea of the event, of course, was in the person's mind. But it was outside of the person's conscious awareness. Freud reasoned that the person first experienced the event consciously. but that the experience was so traumatic that the individual repressed it

To Freud, these therapeutic experiences were sufficient evidence to establish the reality of repression. However, reflecting its importance to psychoanalytic theory, many other investigators over the years have studied repression experimentally, in the lab. An e&rly study was done by Rosenzweig (1941). He varied the level of personal involvement in a task, and then studied research participants' (in this case, college undergraduates) recall of their success or failure on the activity. Rosenzweig found that when participants were person-

PSYCHOANALYSIS: A THEORY OF PERSONALITY

1. 1 d with the experiment, they recalled a larger proportion of tasks g|ly invo     ^g^n able to complete successfully than tasks they had been that t -I ^molete', they presumably repressed the experiences of failure. unable    (uijgnts did not feel threatened, they remembered more of the \\'hen      tasks. In research conducted more recently, women high in sex uncomp ^^g^ ^ in ^ex guilt were exposed to an erotic videotape and ^"i1 A rn reoort their level of sexual arousal. At the same time, their level of h6 'oloeical response was recorded. Women high in sex guilt were found to p s jgg5 arousal than those low in sex guilt but to show greater physiologi-rc? rousal Presumably the guilt associated with sexual arousal led to repres-c n or blocking of awareness of the physiological arousal (Morokoff, 1985).

Particularly compelling evidence of the fact that people sometimes repress svcholo^ical experiences comes from extensive research on repressive coping \ivle The°idea behind this line of research is mat some people are particularly prone to repress unacceptable experiences. You may know such people. If you ask them how they are doing, they say "fine, I'm OK," even if it is obvious to you that they are experiencing a lot of stress and anxiety. Weinberger, Schwartz. and Davidson (1979) conducted a seminal study in this area. These investigators solved two problems confronted by anyone who wishes to do research on this topic: (1) How does one identify people who are particularly likely to repress events (i.e., "repressers"). The challenge, of course, is that people who repress their own negative qualities are not likely to tell you that they do so; they may not be consciously aware that they are repressers. (2) Kow does one demonstrate that the repressers actually are experiencing stressful emotions that they do not admit having? Weinberger and colleagues solved the first problem by using a technique we discussed in Chapter 2, namely, a social desirability scale. They administered a social desirability scale plus a self-report measure of anxiety to a large group of undergraduates, and reasoned that people who (a) report extremely low levels of anxiety, but also (b) score high on social desirability (i.e., they give a wide variety of responses that seem designed to hide undesirable personal qualities) are not actually People with low levels of anxiety but, rather, highly anxious people who are repressing their anxieties. Those with low anxiety levels, high anxiety levels, and represser'; were then invited to participate in a laboratory study in which

ey were asksd to complete-word phrases, some of which contained materi-aroul sexual or ^gressive content. Physiological measures of anxious (Figul ^iT6 taken whue P^cipants performed this task. The findings Aeir co  " revealed that the repressers—who had described themselves, in The phv"50!10"5 ^''^P0^' ^ low in anxiety—were actually high in anxiety. Brousal tha0^  measures indicated that they experienced a level of anxious ^ho harf ^ ^"sded not only the low anxious persons, but even the people

1. In^oS^themselves "high in ^ ^A to their -V!^1?^118 studv °^ repression, subjects were -asked to think """d. They al06d and recall any experience or situation that came to each °f five    were asked to recau childhood experiences associated with '"dicatetheear?0110113 ^PP"1"3. sadness, anger, fear, and wonder) and to ed ""o repress.1 '"^"snce recalled for each emotion. Subjects were divid-'""s nonrepn,-" and two types of nonrepressors (high anxious and low anx-

^Jects differhi   ^n the basis of their resPoase to questionnaires. Did the m "icall, as would ba suggested by the psychoanalytic theory of

Recall condition Mean age o( earliest memory In each recall condition for low-anxious subjects, high-anxious subjects, and repressers.

FEwe 3.2 Repression and Affective Memories. (Davis & Schwarti. 1987) (Copyright 1987 by the American Psychological Association. Reprinted by permission.)

In considering the status of the concept of repression, we return to issues tonsidered in relation to the concept of the unconscious, whicn is not surprising since the two are linked so closely. On the one hand, contemporary esearch has firmly established that people are sometimes motivated to ban-sh from their conscious experience thoughts that are threatening or painful. Ls Freud would have expected, some people who consciously report that they .re free from psychological distress in reality harbor anxiety-related thought .nd emotions of which they appear not to be av.'are. On the other hand, it is ot clear that contemporary experimental research supports precisely the con-

1. (Figure 3.2). The authors concluded: "The pattern of findings is consistent   oping style. It documents repression among a select subset of people (repres-

with the hypothesis that repression involves an inaccessibility to negative   ors), whereas Freud's theory postulated that all persons repress emotionally

emotions' memories and indicates further that repression is associated in     raumatic material. Furthermore, this research documents repression using

some way with the suppression or inhibition of emotional experiences in gen-  elatively simple laboratory stimuli that surely do not evoke the deep-seated

1. eral. The concept of repression as a process involving limited access to nega-      ln- "tteriy traumatic experiences that Freud studied in his patients.
   tive affective memories appears to be valid" (Davis & Schwartz, 1987, p. 155)'

Research along these lines supports the view that some individuals may he     ;KWH AND DEV£LODMPUT

characterized as havLig a repressive style (Weinberger, 1990). Such individu- "" "•tl"

als report little tendency to experience negative affect and have relatively  e ^•-^ytic theory of personality development takes into considera-

stereotyped emotional responses. They have rather consistent self-imag^ ^^-^ the development of charpcter (personality). There are two

report little mdmation to change, and resist information that might produ^    J^^ to the theory of development. The first is that the individual

1. such change. Although they are relatively calm, such calmness appears to ^    anc^f^0"^ stages of development. The second emphasizes the impor-

bought at a pnceThus, for example, they appear to be physiologically ^  ^ go^'T^ for au later behavior. An extreme psychoanalytic position

reactive to stress than are nonrepressors and more prone to develop a vanev   ,a,,-i, tar ss to sav that ri,» ^ * • •c f ci * r»,,

1. of illnesses (Contrada, Czamedd. & Pan, 1997; Derakshan & Eysenck, 1997;      lave been fonned by the end^^£1^ v^Se pers ty

V/emberger&Davidson, 1994). Reporting on related research, Schwartz indi-     lie Dey«lo ^ "e nrst tive years ot hte.

cated thac the cheerfulness of repressors ruasks high blood pressure and nig1 ' PMent of Thmlung Processes

pulse rates, putting them at risk for illnesses such as heart disease and canctf    ,^e P^choanalyu- a

1. (APA Monitor, 1990, p. 14). This view fits with other evidence suggesting tb^'      e '^ange from -^reoryof ^development of thinking processes ftxaises on

a lack of emotional expressiveness is associated with increased risk of illn655     P"inaiy process thinking to secondary process thinking.
(Cox & MacKay, 1982; Levy, 1991; Temoshok, 1985, 1991).

CHAPTER 3 A PSYCHODYNAMIC THEORY

CURRENT QUESTIONS •

RECOVERED MEMORIES OR FALSE MEMORIES?

1. .;

An article in a professional psychological journal asks: "What scientific basis is there for the authenticity of memories of sexual abuse that were 'repressed' but then "remembered' with the help of a therapist? How are scientists, jurists, and distressed individuals themselves to distinguish true memories from false ones?" Answering these questions is difficult. On the one hand, we know that people '.can forget events that subsequently are remembered. This is obvious from one's own experiences in remembering events from one's'past Yet there is an alternative possibility that .-is intriguing—indeed, somewhat disturbing, r It is that we might sometimes "recall" events that never occurred in the first place;.71 We might sometimes have "false memories.".

Research documents that it is possible for people to experience false memories, that is, recollections of events that did not, in fact, occur. For example, Mazzoni and Memon (2003) conducted a study involving three experimental sessions that each were separated in time by one week. In the first session, adult research participants completed a survey in which they reported the likelihood that they had experienced each of a large series of life events in their childhood. In session two, the experimenters conducted an experimental manipulation involving rwo of the events from the suivey The two events were minor medical procedures: a tooth extraction and the removal of a skin sample from one's small finger. For one of the events, participants merely were exposed to a paragrapu of information about the type of event. For the other event, participants were asked to imagine the event occurring. In the third session, participants completed the survey again and reported any memories they had of the two target events. The hypothesis was that imagining the events—i.e., forming a mental imagine of the event occurring in one's life^years earlier— could cause people to believe that the event, in fact, had occurred. This is what happened (see Fisure 3.3). Whether they had imagined the tooth extraction or the removal ofa'sldn sample, participants were more likely'.to believe that the event had occurred and'to imagine some aspects of the event if they^tnerely had been asked to imagine it ^week earlier. A critical aspect of this particular study is.that one of the events, the skin samp's removal, surely had never occurred to the participants; medical records in the area that the study.was conducted -indicated that physicians never employed the procedure. Thus/the finding;. showed that participants ended-up remembering information (e.g., aspects of .the physi-

PSYCHOANALYSIS: A THEORY OF PERSONALITY

^ setting, the medical personnel involved) Hour an event that never had occurred.

ThL sort of study does not resolve th. ouestion of whether the memories of a par-Sr client in therapy are accurate or false ^individual cases, this issue surely will remain controversial. Psychologists have no reliable method of distinguishing between •recovered memories" and 'false memories in each individual case. However, the research does demonstrate that it is at least possible for people to "remember" events that demonstrably had not occun-ec;.

sources- American Psychological Society Observer, 1992; Loftus, 1993, New York Times, April 8, 1994, p. Al;

Mazzoni & Memon, 2003; Williams, 1994.

Figure 3.3 Tile graphs display amount ofn^"mo-ries recalled (top) mid percentage of participants who experienced significant memory of events (bottom) as a result of either imagining the event occurring or merely being exposed to information about the event.

Primary process thinking is the language of the unconscious in which reality and fantasy are indistinguishable. Aspects of primary process thinking are seen in dreams. Here events occur in more than one place at the same time, characteristics of different people and objects are combined, events shift rapidly back and forth in time, and what in waking life is impossible occurs with ease. Secondary process thinking is the language of consciousness and reality testing. Parallel to this is the development of the ego and superego. With the development of the ego, the individual becomes more differentiated, as a self, from tne rest of the world and there is a decrease m self-preoccupation.

aetwc           has ulade a relatecl distinction in types of thinking, that vndan1..0^"6,"^ thinldne and rational thinking. These are viewed as two •xperi^ ".^ int ways of bowing, one associated with feelings and

1. Primary pro^s^, T" with'inteuect- ^P^111181 ^^ng, analogous to ind characterized!-, I''"1®' ls viewed as earlier in evolutionary development. tio" Often it is u d -as holistic' ^"crete, and heavily influenced by emo-Rational thinking an T1 lnterF>ersonal situations to be empathic or intuitive. In evolutionary del60112 to ^"^dary process thinking, is viewed as later y^, and foUowi-S"1™')"'1 ^^cterized by being more abstract, ana-hinking would be usY-   1s of Iogic and s^dence. For example, rational lict between the tumj".^8 "athematical problems. The potential con-Wch subjects were J^^   of thought ""i be seen in an experiment in >tean from a bowl that1    t • crloose between drawing a winning red jelly

•ntained 8 out of loo r^-^  1 out of 10 red ^ beans' and a bowl that "-ajeJy beans (Denes-Raj & Epstein, i994). Having

_ ..._-_ „.-. n»m>,i 13 pi ujecied onto

--——""" wit], i1″-’-’ “”"”i’”i,,« rnnseauent fear of retaliation. This leads to what is known

,    ,.- – -.”; ” l”w”m« with one another. This is likely the case^ father•,ull ^—o^lex According to the Oedipus complex, every boy is most creauve activities. Also, there are individual differences in the extent S ‘he ^SS^^sy and many his mother. The complex can be

which each system is developed and available for use in specific enterprises, d.0^;S’seductiveness on the part of the mother. Castration anx-

The Development of the Instincts                                               ^”be heightened by actual threats from the father to cut off the penis.

se threats occur in a surprising number of cases. The most significant part of the psychoanalytic theory of development con. or an interesting illustration of an effort to test the concept of the Oedipus

cems ihe development of the instincts. The source of the instincts is states of iplex, we can return to the subliminal psychodynamic activation studies of bodily tension, which tend to focus on certain regions of-the body, called unconscious. As previously described, in this research stimuli are present-erogenous zones. According to the theory, there is a biologically determined o subjects subliminally in a tachistoscope. When certain stimuli register development of, and change in, the major erogenous zones of the body At any iminally, they presumably activate unconscious conflicts and either inten-one time the major source of excitation and energy tends to focus on a par. or alleviate these conflicts, depending on the nature of the conflict and the ticular zone, with the location of that zone changing during the early deve!. lulus presented. The point of the current experiment was to manipulate opmental years. The first erogenous zone is the mouth, the second the anus degree of Oedipal conflict in males and to observe the effects of their per-and the third the genitals. The mental and emotional growth of the child are larlce in a competitive situation (Silver-man et al., 1978). The stimuli cho-dependent on the social interactions, anxieties, and gratifications that occur to intensify or alleviate Oedipal conflict were “Beating Dad Is Wrong” and

1. in relation to these zones,                                                 tting Dad Is OK.” In addition, a number of other stimuli wcrp nrpconta^ Stages of Development The fir<;t mi.^- »— -r   •  •

_ — ..-^nj, smnuius, wnereas the “Beating Dad Is Wrong”

. ^,-—.. ^ p»>-<»sufes. in children, such a ulus was followed by significantly lower scores than those following the lusion or instinctual gratification is seen in the eating of animal crackers In ra! stimulus (Table 3.2).

later life, we see traces of orality in various spheres. For example, academic “at is interesting about this research is that whereas the theoretical for-pursuits c<in have oral associations within the unconscious: one is given “food ltlon was derived from clinical material with patients, the experimental for thought,” asked to “incorporate” material in reading, and told to “regurgi- ‘S ‘”wived normal college males. The assumption of the experimenters

1. -                    ulat “since most persons are vulnerable to some degree of neurotic behav-In the second stage of development, the anal stage (ages two and three),

there is excitation in the anus and in the movement of feces through the anal 3 9 n j. , passageway. The expulsion of the feces is believed to bring relief from tension –—j^iP01 Conflict onj Conipetilive Perfonnance

1. and pleasure in the stimulation of the mucous membranes in that region. The                  “Beat’—TT’i————’”r—’•—T^A’”Peoole’
2. pleasure related to this erogenous zone involves the organism in conflict. There sc<^’              ^ W^nr’           T Sir        Are WaVcLig’ is conflict between elimination and retention, between the pleasure in release nST^oscoplcp^^S—’————————————————————————~~
3. and the pleasure in retention; and between the wish for pleasure in evacuation i, Prestimulus “‘”"”^ATlON OP THREE STIMULI and the demands of the external worid for delay. This latter conflict represents :’^ststiniuins     ‘ 443’7             444-3            439-0 the Crst crucial conflict between the individual and society. Here the environ- rence                                  533’3            442.3 ment requires the child to violate the pleasure principle or be punished. The ^——.——         -941               -~ ~

child may retaliate against such demands by intentional soi1””" ”’”  ‘  ” associate lm«”"~ i-——’

CHAPTER 3 A PSYCHODYNAM1C THEORY

ior and since, according »o psychoanalytic understanding, Oedipal conflict often plays a central pathogenic role, we anticipated that the clinically based relationship might apply to a ‘normal’ college population” (p. 342). Two additional points are worthy of note since there have been difficulties in replicat. ing this type of research. First, the results were not obtained when the stimuli were presented above threshold. The psychodynamic activation effects appear to operate at the unconscious rather than at the conscious level. Second, the authors emphasize that the experimental stimuli must relate to the motivational state of the subjects and the response measured must be sensitive to changes in this motivational state. Thus, in the experiment aforementioned, subjects were first “primed” with picture and story material containing Oedipal content and then the task was presented as one involving competition,

The developmental processes during this stage are somewhat different for the female. She realizes the lack of a penis and blames the mother, the original love object. In developing penis envy, the female child chooses the father as the love object and imagines that the lost organ will be restored by having a child by the father.’ Whereas the Oedipus complex is abandoned in the boy because of castration anxiety, in the female it is started because of penis envy. As with the male, conflict during this period is in some cases accentuated by seductiveness on the part of the father toward the female child. And, as with the male, the female child resolves the conflict by keeping the father as a love object but gaining him through identification with the mother.

Do children actually display Oedipal behaviors or are these all distorted memories of adults, in particular patients in psychoanalytic treatment? A study investigated this question through the use of parents’ reports of parent-child interactions, as well as through the analysis of children’s responses to stories involving parent-child interaction. It was found that at around age four, children show increased preference for the parent of the opposite sex and an increased antagonism toward the parent of the same sex. These behaviors diminish at around the age of five or six. What is interesting in this study is that although the researchers came from a differing theoretical orientation, they concluded that the reported Oedipal behaviors coincided with the psychoanalytic view of Oedipal relations between mothers and sons and between fathers and daughters (Watson & Getz, 1990),

As part of the resolution of the Oedipus complex, the child identifies with the parent of the same sex. The child now gains the parent of the opposite sex through identification with, rather than defeat of, the parent of the same sex. | The development of an identification with the parent of the same sex is a crit-1 ical issue during the phallic stage and, more generally, is a critical concept in i developmental psychology. In identification, individuals take on themselves • the qualities of another person and integrate .them into their functioning. In ;

identifying with their parents, children assume many of the same values and • morals. It is in this sense that the superego has been called the heir to the res-1 olution of the Oedipus complex.

According to Freud, all major aspects or our personality character develop during the oral, anal, and phallic stages of development. Although Freud gave;

1 Psychoanalytic theory has been criticized by feminists on’a variety of grounds. Perhaps inott thaa any other concept, the concept of penis envy is s<-cn as expressing a chauvinistic, hostile yieV | toward women. This issue will hs addressed in Chapter 4 in the “Critical Evaluation” section-

PSYCHOANALYSIS: A THEORY OF PERSONALITY

Oedipus Complex, Competition, and Identification: For the male child to become competitive, there must not be loo much anxiety about rivalry with the father. Jim Burt, of the N.Y. Giants football team, carried his son around the field after winning the 1987 Super Bowl. He describes his son, Jim. Jr., age 4 1/2, as “So much like me it’s frightening. He’s got the same fire in his eyes. And like when we wrestle together on the rug, he always wants to win,”

relatively little attention to developiiiental factors after the resolution of the Oedipus complex, he did recognize their existence. After the phallic stage, the child enters latency. The meaning of the latency stage has never been clear in psychoanalytic theory. An assumption of a decrease in sexual urges and interest during the ages of 6 through 13 might have fit observations of Victorian children, but it does not fit observations of children in other cultures. A more plausible assumption, and one more difficult to test, is that there are no new

developments during this stage in terms of the ways in which children gratify Uieir instincts.

1. ‘he onset of puberty, with the reawakening of the sexual urges and Oedipal •”ungs, marks the beginning of the genital stage. The significance of this Penod for individuals and for their functioning :n society is demonstrated in q e ‘”"‘ation rites of many cultures (e.g., the Jewish bar mitzvah). ^ependency feelings and Oedipal strivings that were not fully resolved during The^8’1″^1 stages or development now come back to rear their ugly heads. Freud n   “^olescence is partly attributable to these factors. According to

Psychol5″00^^1 P’^S1″03″0″ through the stages of development leads to the ogically healthy person—one who can love and work.

^ o^de^0″”"01 sla9es of ^’^”P”611′ rt is clear that in the psychoanalytic the-^”elopin e “P”*61″‘ major attention is given to the first five years and to the work’ to Bi       “‘stincts. Ego psychologists have tried, within this frame-and to ”isni^ greater Mention to other developments during the eariy years ^es l—lrc” ^’-'^Piients that take place during the latency and genital ^^ribes’de n”son (1902-1994), one of the leading ego psychoanalysis, ^tins (TableT??111″^ m P^hosocial terms rather than merely in sexual

‘”^’zation „’ i Thusl the first stage is ‘”g111802″” not just because of the 1 Pleasure in the mouth, but because in the feeding situation a

CHAPTER 3 A PSYCHODYNAMIC THEORY

relationship of trust or mistrust is developed between the infant and the mother. Similarly, the anal stage is significant not only for the change in the nature of the major erogenous zone,.but also because toilet training is a significant social situation in which the child may develop a sense of autonomy or succumb to shame and self-doubt. In the phallic stage the child must struggle with the issue of taking pleasure in, as opposed to feeling guilty about being assertive, competitive, and successful.

For Erikson (1950), the latency and genital stages are periods when the individual develops a sense of industry and success or a sense of inferiority, and perhaps most important of all, a sense of identity or a sense or role diffusion. The crucial task of adolescence, according to Erickson, is the establishment of a sense of ego identity, an accrued confidence that the way one views oneself has a continuity with one’s past and is matched by the perceptions of others. In contrast to people who develop a sense of identity, people with role diffusion experience the feeling of not really knowing who they are, of not knowing whether what they think they are matches what others think of them, and of not knowing how they have developed in this way or where they are heading in the future. During late adolescence and the college years, this struggle with a sense of identity may lead to joining a variety of groups and to considerable anguish about the choice of a career. If these issues are not resolved during this time, the individual is, in later life. filled with a sense of despair; life is too short, and it is too late to start all over again.

In his research on the process of identity formation,. Marda (1994) has identified four statuses individuals can have in relation to this process. In Identity Achievement, the individual has established a sense of identity fol-lovving exploration. Such individuals functioa at a high psychological level,

PSYCHOANALYSIS: A THEORY OF personality

1. hie of independent thought, intimacy in interpersonal relations, [^ing wv   j reasoning, and resistance to group demands for conformity or coWP x  nnlation of their sense of self-esteem. In Identity Moratorium, the gi-oup rn ^ ^ ^^ midst of an identity crisis. Such individuals are capable of jnd"'1   _ ^ psychological functioning, as indicated in complex thought and I"?1' gasoning, and also value intimacy. However, they are stii! struggling rnora   who they are and what they are about, and are less prepared than the v"l^l^s achievers to make commitments. In Identity Foreclosure, the inJivid-^wtl committed to an identity without having gone through a process of
2. /ration. Such individuals tend to be rigid, highly responsive to group ^P  j- fgr conformity, and sensitive to manipulation of their self-esteem. de   ^j to be highly conventional and rejecting of deviation from perceived

dards of right and wrong. Finally, in Identity Diffusion, the individual s , gny strong sense of identity or commitment. Sucli individuals are very vulnerable to blows tc their self-esteem, often are disorganized in their think-ine and have problems with intimacy. In sum, Marcia suggests thai individuals differ in how they go about handling the process of identity formation, with such differences being reflected in their sense of self, thought processes, and interpersonal relations. Although not necessarily establishing fixed patterns for later life, how the process of identity formation is hindled is seen as having important implications for later personality development.

Continuing with his description of the later stages of life and the accompanying psychological issues, Erikson suggests that some people develop a sense of intimacy, an acceptance of life's successes and disappointments, and a sense of continuity throughout the life cycle, whereas other people remain isolated from family and friends, appear to survive on a fixed daily routine, and focus on both past disappointments and future death. Although the ways in which people do and do not resolve these critical issues of adulthood may have their roots in childhood conflict, Erikson suggests that this is not always the case

'"'? one's ° e  ^^i0": In adolescence, a sense of ego identity is developed partly by ense °fself'confirmed by the perceptions of friends.

CHAPTER 3 A PSYCHODYNAMIC THEORY

and that they have a significance of their own (Erikson, 1982). In sun, Erikson's contributions are noteworthy in three ways: (1) he has emphasize,! the psychosocial as well as the instinctual basis for personality development. (2) he has extended the stages of development to include the entire life cycl. and has articulated the major psychological issues to be faced in these la^i. stages; and (3) he has recognized that people look to the future as well as to the past, and how they construe their future may be as significant a part of their personality as how they construe their past.

The Importance of Early Experience Psychoanalytic theory places enormous emphasis on the role of early life events for later personality development. Much of adult life is a repetition of themes established during the early developmental stages. Many contemporary researchers, however, suggest a much greater potential for development and change in personality across the entire life span. Although the issue is complex, with no uniform consensus (Caspi & Bern, 1990), many scholars highlight the fact that, to a degree not fully appreciated by Freud, changes in an individuals environment that occur later in life can bring about changes in personality (Kagan, l°98; Lewis, 2002). Indeed, in contrast to the . themes established by Freud, a major trend in contemporary psychology is She study of personality dynamics across the entire course of life, from childhood to older adulthood (Baltes, Staudinger, & Lindcnberger, 1999).

The complexities of the issue can be illustrated with two studies. The first, conducted by a psychoanalyst (Gaensbauer, 1982), involved the study of affect development in infancy. The infant. Jenny, was first studied systematically when she was almost four months old. Prior to this time, at the age of three months, she had been physically abused by her father. At that time she was brought to the hospital with a broken arm and a skull fracture. She was described by hospital personnel as being a "lovable baby"—happy, cute, sociable, but also as not cuddling when held and as being "jittery" when approached by a male. Following this history of abuse. Jenny was placed in a foster home, where she received adequate physical care but minimal social interaction. This was very much in contrast with her earlier experience with her natural mother, who sp<-"t considerable time with her and breast-fed her "at the drop of a hat" The first systematic observation occurred almost a month after p'-icement in the foster home. At this time Jenny's behavior was judged to be completely consistent with a diagnosis of depression—lethargic, apathetic, disinterested, collapsed posture. A systematic analysis of her facial expressions indicated five discrete affects, each meaningfully related to her unique history. Sadness was noted when she was with her natural mother. Fearfulness and anger were noted when she was approached by a male stranger but not when approached by a female stranger. Joy was noted as a transient affect during brief play sequences. Finally, interest-curiosity wa5 noted when she interacted with female strangers.

After she was visited m her foster home. Jenny was placed in a different foster home where she received warm attention. Following two weeks in this environment, she was again brought to the hospital for further evaluation, this tun6 by her second foster mother. This time she generally appeared to be a nonnal-fy responsive infant She showed no evidence of distress and even smiled at a male strangec After an additional month at this foster home, she was brought to the hospital by her natural mother for a third evaluation. Generally, she was

PSYCHOANALYSIS: A THEORY OF PERSONALITY

1. A and happv. However, when the mother left the room, she cried aruffia ^      continued following the mothers return despite repeated intense y     ^g y^ Apparently separation from her natural mother contin-alteiTiP       serious distress response. In addition, sadness and anger were

Lo rl • noted. At eight months old. Jenny was returned to her natural moth-^^"kft her husband and received counseling. At the age of 20 months, she er-v/, ,-rihed as appearing to be normal and having an excellent relationship was es mother. However, there continued to be the problem of anger and dis-wl associated with separation from her mother.

tre^ m these observations, we can conclude that there was evidence of both

tinuity and discontinuity between Jenny's early emotional experiences and c , ^ emotional reactions. In general, she was doing well and her emo-

• nal responses were within the normal range for infants of her age. At the

tirne, the anger reactions in response to separations and frustration appeared to be a link to the past. The psychoanalyst conducting the s'.udy suggested that perhaps isolated traumatic events are 'less important than the repeated experiences of a less dramatic but more persistent nature. In other words, the early years are important, but more in terms of patterns of interpersonal relationships than in terms of isolated events.

The second study, conducted by a group of developmental psychologists, assessed the relationship between early emotional relationships with the mother and later psychopathology (Lewis, et al., 1984). In this study, the attachment behavior toward their mother of boys and girls one year of age was observed. The observation involved a standardized procedure consisting of a period of play with the mother in an unstructured situation, followed by the departure of the mother and a period when the child was alone in the playroom, and then by the return of the mother and a second free play period. The behavior of the children was scored systematically and assigned to one of three attachment categories: avoidant, secure, or ambivalent. The avoidant

_and ambivalent categories suggested difficulties in this area. Then at six years ot age, the competence of these children was assessed through the completion by the mothers of a Child Behavior Profile. The ratings of the mothers were

also checked against teacher ratings. On the basis of the Child Behavior

rofile the children were classified into a normal group, an at-risk group, and a clinically disturbed group.

1. ''"at was the relationship between early attachment behavior and later pathology:' Two aspects of ihe results are particularly noteworthy. Firsi, me da °   .ips were quite different for boys than for girls. For boys, attachment Inse51 cation at one y^f °f ^s was significantly related to later pathology. Bttac'i e ^attac^ed boys showed more pathology at age six than did securely later n tk i^3' ^n ^le otner hand, no relationship between attachment and between8'was observed for g^s. Second, the authors noted a difference ^Posed tng to P^dict pathology from the early data (prospective) as Afficuiti0^"6 to """^"tand later pathology in terms of earlier attachment ti£ied as i{retrosyx:twe'}• If one starts with the boys who at age six were iden-have be«n lne at nsk or ^"s^y disturbed, 80 percent would be found to • one- In oth st^aea to tne awidant- or ambivalent-attachmeni. category at age !land. if crT >vords> a ^^ s^oag statistical relationship exists. On the other '^bivalent)''took al! boys classified as insecurely attached (avoidant or t age one and predicted them to be at risk or clinically disturbed

110

CHAPTER 3 A PSVCHODYNAM1C THEORY

at age six, one would be right in only 40 percent of the cases. The reason tor this is that far more of the boys were classified as insecurely attached than were later diagnosed as at risk or disturbed. Thus, the clinician viewing later pathology would have a clear basis for suggesting a strong relationship between patL^logy and early attachment difficulties. On the other hand, focusing on the data in terms of prediction would suggest a much more tenuous relationship and the importance of other variables. As Freud himself recognized, when we observe later pathology, it is all too easy to understand how it developed. On the other hand, when we look at these phenomena prospec-tively, we are made aware of the varied paths that development can follow.

As previously noted, the issues relevant to the importance of early experience for later personality development are complex. Perhaps we must seek a ' more differentiated approach to the question rather than a black-or-white I answer. For example, the importance of early experience for later personality • development might depend on the characteristic being studied. Perhaps some personality characteristics, once formed, are more resistant to change than are others. The role of early experience might also depend on the intensity of particular experiences, their duration, and the extent to which differing experiences occurred earlier and later. Thus, for example, the effects of maternal deprivation may depend on how serious and long-lasting the deprivation is, as well as on the role of positive experiences both before and following deprivation. Finally, we may note the distinction between what may occur and what must inevitably occur. Psychoanalytic theory can be accurate in portraying the possible effects of early experience, particularly as seen in various forms of psychological disturbance where a pattern of relationships is established early and maintained over time, without postulating that such effects are inevitable.

MAJOR CONCEPTS

Anal stage Freud's concept for that period of life during which the major center of bodily excitation or tension is the anus.

Anxiety In psychoanalytic theory, a painful emotional experience that signals or alerts the ego to danger. Catharsis The release and freeing of emotion through talking about one's problems. Castration anxiety Freud's concept of the boy's fear, experienced during the phallic stage, that the father will cut off the son's penis because of their sexual rivalry for the mother.

Conscious Those thoughts, experiences, and feelings of which we are aware.

Death instinct Freud's concept for drives or sources of energy directed toward death or a return to an inorganic state.

Defense mechanisms Freud's concept for those mental strategics used hy the person to reduce anxiety. They function to exclude from awareness of sonie thought, wish, or feeling.

Denial The defense mechanism in which a painfulj internal or external reality is denied. Ego Freud's structural concept for the part of pe sonality that attempts to satisfy drives (instincts) accordance with reality and the person's moral value Energy system Freud's wew of personality as invol ing the interplay among various forces (e.g., drive instincts) "r sources of energy. Erogenous zones According to Freud, those parts < the body that are the sources of tension or excitation. Free association In psychoanalysis, the patient's | reporting to the analyst of every thought that comes to ' mind.

Genital stage In psychoanalytic theory, the stage < development associated with the onset of puberty. Id Freud's structural concept for the source of I instincts or all of the drive energy in people. Identification The acquisition, as characteristics of the self, of personality characteristics perceived to be part of others (e.g., parents).

experiences, and feelings of which we are momentarily unaware but can -eadily bring into awareness.

Primnjy pi-dees': In psychoanalytic theory, a form of thinking that is not governed by !ogic or reality testing and that is seen in dreams and other expressions of the unconscious.

Projection The defense mechanism in which one attributes to (projects onto) others one's own unacceptable instincts or wishes.

Rationalization The defense mechanism in which an acceptable reason is given for an unacceptable motive or act.

Reaction formation The defense mechanism in which the opposite of an unacceptable impulse is expressed.

Reality principle According to Freud, psychological functioning based on reality in which pleasure is delayed until an optimum time.

Repression The primary defense mechanism in which a thought, idea, or wish is dismissed from consciousness.

Secondary- process In psychoanalytic theory, a form of thinking thai is governed by reality and associated with the development of the ego.

Subliminal psychodynan-'lc activation The research procedure associated with psychoanalytic theory in which stimuli are presented below the perceptual threshold (subliminally) to stimulate unconscious wishes and fears.

Sublimation The defense mechanism in which the original expression of the instinct is replaced by a higher cultural goal.

Srperego Freud's structural concept for the part of personality that expresses our ideals and moral values.

Unconscious Those thoughts, experiences, and feelings of which we are unaware. According to Freud, this unawarenccs is the result of repression.

Undoing The defense mechanism in which one magically undoes an act or wish associated with anxiety.

REVIEW

^ychoarialvn' i, ic. clinical •lc theoIy ^"strates a psychodynam-

nanlic 'mph^ to Personauty• The psychody-of ^hav,-      " ^""ed in the interpretation """"^s or ^ a result of Ae interplay among ?P^sedfn tl"""- The clinical "P^ach is

,   "^giotens-"11'^15'0" material observed ^its in ,-    '"""-•"ent of individuals.

•Bent .r'^d's life niavpn ., ^i. .. .u- -,--.,-

"tent

toward science. Illustrative here are the emphasis on the death instincts ir relation to World War I, his emphasis on sex in relation to inhibitions concerning sexuality found in Victorian society, and the energy model then popular in other branches of science.

3. Two sets of structural concepts are key to psychoanalytic theory. The first relates to levels of consciousness-conscious, preconscious, and uncon-

112   CHAPTER 3 A PSYCHODYNAMIC THEORY

scious. The second relates to different aspects of people's functioning as expressed in the concepts of id, ego, and superego, roughly corresponding to drives (instincts), an orientation toward reality. and morals.

4. Experimental research on the unconscious is illustrated uy the study of perception without awareness and subliminal psychodynamic activation-Although there remains dispute concerning the importance of unconscious phenomena, almost all psychologists agree that we can be influenced by stimuli that are outside of conscious awareness.

5. In psychoanalytic theory the person is viewed as an energy system, and the source of energy lies in the life and death instincts or the sexual and aggressive instincts.

6. Crucial to the dynamics of psychological functioning are the concepts of anxiety and the defense mechanisms. Anxiety is a painful emotion that acts as a signal of impending danger. The defense mechanisms represent ways of distorting reality and excluding feelings from awareness so that we do not feel anxious. Repression, in which a thought or wish is dismissed from consciousness, is particularly important in this regard.

7. According to psychoanalytic theory, the individuaj progresses through stages of development. The development of the instincts is related to changes in the sensitivity of different parts of 'he body (erogenous zones) and is expressed in the concepts of oral, anal, and phallic stages. The Oedipus corri. plex, which develops during the phallic stage, is seen as a particularly important psychological development and has been the subject of considerable research.

8. Psychoanalyst Erik Erikson attempted to broaden and extend psychoanalytic theory through an emphasis on the psychosocial stages of development.

9. Psychoanalytic theory emphasizes the importance of early experience, particularly during the first five years of life, for later personality development. Research on the relationship between early experiences and later nsychopathology illustrates an effort to study the importance of early experience for later personality development. The importance of early events probably is influenced by the intensity of these events and whether subsequent events further strengthen wliat has been formed or turn personality development in new directions.

A PSYCHODYNAMIC THEORY-APPLICATIONS AND EVALUATION

^,      OF FREUD'S THEORY

•^saws^-s^t^:

RELATED POINTS OF VIEW ' Two Early Challenges to Freud

;,   Alfred Adier (1870-1937) , ";'' Carl G. Jung (1875-1961) ".•K;?1"' Cultural and Interpersonal Emphasis ;p^ Karen Homey (1885-1952) ^^^Hany Stack Sullivan (1892-1949)

^^^JRgCENT DEVELOPMENTS IN THE .^ .^ ..• •-^'l^CHODYNAMIC TRADITION

-s.. Object 'Relations Theo»y

• '•^^•'Narcissism and the Narcissistic ''Si^'i -Personality

^^^'AiSent Theory and Adult Personal , ;j ?:;.?;Relationships _:.^ ;:_ Attachment Styles in Adulthood

• ^'••'-Attachment Types or Dimensions?

^MTICAL EVALUATION

, ':.'^ Alajor Contributions "^Lunit^tioas of the Theory

•^•'   The Scientific Status of Psychoanalytic

Theory

The Psychoanalytic View of the Person Summary Evaluation

MAJOR CONCEPTS REVIEW

Chapter Focus

When you were a kid, did you ever plav ttie cloud game? It had to be a day when there were big white fluff;' clouds againsi. ihe blue background of the sky. You would lie on your back in the grass with a friend and stare at the clouds until you "saw" something. If you tried long and hard enough you could find all kinds of interesting things: animals, dragons, the face of an old man. Quite often, pointing out your discoveries to your friend was impossible. Exactly what you saw could only be seen by you. Why did you see the things you saw? It must have been something about you that you "projected" onto the cloud in the sky.

This is the basic idea behind projective tests such as the Rorschach Inkblot Test and the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT). In this chapter, we focus on these tests because they are techniques of personality assessment associated with psychodynamic theory. Projective tests use ambiguous stimuli to elicit highly individualistic responses which can then be interpreted by the clinician. This chapter also considers Freud's attempts to understand and explain the symptoms presented by his patients and his efforts to develop a systematic method of treatment. After considering more recent developments in psychoanalytic theory, including challenges to Freud's ideas from other psychodynamic theorists, we turn to a critical evaluation and summary.

1. Which personality tests are best suited to assess an individual's personality from a psychoanalytic standpoint?

2. How can we understand the diverse forms of psychopathology from a psychoanalytic perspective?

3. How does psychoanalytic therapy attempt to facilitate psychological , growth and improved psychological functioning?

4. Why did /ai ious early followers of Freud reject psychoanalysis in favor of an alternative theory?

5. How can we evaluate psychoanalysis as a theory of personality?

Psychoanalysis is a clinical theory of personality, focusing on the intensive study of the person. The theory emphasizes unconscious processes and the interplay among motives. These theoretical ideas, however, cannot merely stand by themselves as an abstract intellectual structure. To obtain a theory that is useful, one must relate the abstract ideas to concrete procedures for assessing personality and for treating psychopathology. This chapter considers the ways in which psychoanalytic thinkers have addressed this challenge.

114

CLINICAL APPLICATIONS

with the problem of assessment, and with the attempted solution p^S by projective tests.

ASSESSMENT: PROJECTIVE TESTS.

,   ^ many different personality tests can be used with psychoanalytic 0 the ones most closely linked to the theory are projective tests. The e,° ne feature of projective tests is that the test items are ambiguous. The "ontains stimuli whose meaning is unclear. Test takers are asked to inter-te5 the stimuli, in other words, to say what they think the test items mean. P. ,jg^ js (hat their interpretations will reveal aspects of the test taker's per-

alitv Note that this is utterly unlike a standard questionnaire or survey. ..  j]y people writing items for a questionnaire strive for clarity. For a typi-al Questionnaire, an item such as “Do you like things?” would be a terrible lest item because it is so ambiguous. “What things are you talking about?”, the test taker would ask. But on a projective test, this amb’guity is the very point of the test. Tlie psychologist is interested in how the test taker constructs meaning out of the vague stimulus. The assumption is that the test taker’s responses will be indicative of emotional themes and thinking styles that come into play in the person’s day-to-day thoughts about the events of their life.

The term projection in relation to assessment techniques was first used in 1938 by Henry A. Murray, but the importance of projective tests was first emphasized most clearly by L. K. Frank in 1939. Frank argued against the use of standardized tests, which he felt classified people but told little about them as individuals. He argued for the use of tests that would offer insight into individuals’ private worlds of meanings and feelings. Such tests would allow individuals to impose their own structure and organization on Stimuli and would thereby express a dynamic conception of personality.

In this section we consider two projective tests, the Rorschach Inkblot Test and the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT). Both are unstructured—meaning that they allow subjects to respond in their own unique ways. Both are also isguised tests, in that generally subjects are not aware of their purpose or of ow particular responses will be interpreted. Psychoanalytic theory’is related 10 Projective tests as follows:

1. ugh which the individual organizes and structures external

with” ‘ ln 1th0 environnlent- Projective tests allow subjects to respond ^     complete freedom in terms of both content and organization.

and’def’111’11^ theory srophasizes the importance of the unconscious provideT^ ‘”f0^11″”18- In projective tests, the directions and stimuli “”erer t0^ guldelines tor responding, and the purposes of the test and 3. p , eta^ons of responses are hidden from the subject.

1. •^ty is. te ytic ^^”‘y emphasizes a holistic understanding of person-^on of bena •  ^^’”"^-^ps among parts, rather than the intprpreta-tics. Projc-ti”01^as ^”^s of single parts or personality characteris-the Pattern-ve tests ^^”^y Iead to holistic interpretations based on ‘”^retatio”8 f   .ol’eanization of. test responses rather than on the n ot a single response reflecting a particular characteristic.

CHAPTER 4 A PSYCHODYNAMIC THEORY

The Rorschach inkblot Test

Although inkblots had been used earlier, Hermann Rorschach, a Swiss psychiatrist, first fully grasped the potential use of these stimuli for personality assessment Rorschach put ink on paper and folded the paper so that symmetrical but ill-defined forms were produced. These inkblots were then shown to hospitalized patients. Through a process of trial and en-or, the inkblots that elicited different responses from different psychiatric groups were kept, while those that did not were discarded. He experimented with thousands of inkblots and finally settled on 10; the test, then, consists of 10 cards containing these inkblots.

Rorschach was well acquainted with the work of Freud, the concept of the unconscious, and the dynamic view of personality. The development of his test cer+ainly seems to have been influenced by this view. Rorschach felt that the data from the inkblot test would increase understanding of the unconscious and have relevance for psychoanalytic theoiy. He used psychoanalytic theory in his own interpretations of subjects’ responses.

When conducting the test, the experimenter tries to make the subjects relaxed and comfortable while providing them with sufficient information to complete the task. The test is presented as “just one of many ways used nowadays to try to understand people,” and the experimenter volunteers as little information as possible; “It is best not to know much about the procedure until you have gone through it.” Subjects are asked to look at each card and tell the examiner what they see—anything that might be represented on the card. Individuals are free to focus on the whole image or any aspect of the

Rorschach Inkblot Test: The Rorschach interpreter assumes thai the-subject’s personality is projected onto unstructured stimuli sucfi as inkblots. (Drawing by Ross; © 1974 The New Yorker Magazine, Inc.)

CLiMCAI. APPLICATION’S

Irblot that they wish, and to provide any interpretation that comes to mind. ln responses are recorded on the rest record.

n interpreting the Rorschach, one is interested in how the response, or per-t is formed, the reasons for the response, and its content. The basic c curnption, as noted earlier, is that the way individuals form their perceptions • related to the way they generally organize and structure stimuli in their nvironmehts. Perceptions that match the structure of the inkblot suggest a cood level of psychological functioning that is well oriented toward reality. On the other hand, poorly formed responses that do not fit the structure of the inkblot suggest unrealistic fantasies or bizarre behavior. The content of subjects’ responses (whether they see mostly animate or inanimate objects, humans or animals, and content expressing affection or hostility) makes a great deal of difference in the interpretation of the subjects’ personalities. For example, compare the interpretations we might make of two sets of responses, one where animals are seen repeatedly as fighting and a second where humans are seen as sharing and involved in cooperative efforts.

Beyond this, content may be interpreted symbolically. An explosion may symbolize intense hostility; a pig, gluttonous tendencies; a fox, a tendency toward being crafty and aggressive; spiders, witches, and octopuses, negative images of a dominating mother; gorillas and giants, negative attitudes toward a dominating father; and an ostrich, an attempt to hide from conflicts (Schafer, 1954). Two illustrative stimuli and responses are presented in Figure 4.1.

CHAPTER A A PSYCHODYNAMIC THEORY

It is important to recognize that the Rorschach test is not interpreted on the basis of one i-csponse alone, but in s-elation to the total sum of responses. However, each response is used to suggest hypotheses or possible interpretations about the individual’s personality. Such hypotheses are checked against interpretations based on other response;, on the total response pattern, and on the subject’s behavior while responding to the Rorschach. In relation to the subject’s behavior, the examiner notes all unusual behavior and uses this as a source of data for further interpretation. For example, a subject who constantly asks for guidance may be interpreted as dependent. A subject who seems tense, asks questions in a subtle way, and looks at the back of the cards may be interpreted as suspicious and possibly paranoid.

The Thematic Apperception Trst (TAT)

Another widely used projective test is the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT), developed by Henry Murray and Christina Morgan. The TAT consists of cards with scenes on them. Most depict one or two people in some important life situation, though some cards are more abstract. The subject is asked to make up a story based on the scene on the card, including what is going on, the thoughts and feelings of the participants, what led up to the scene, and the outcome. Since the scenes often are ambiguous, they leave considerable room for individuality in the content of subjects’ stories: “The test is based on the well-recognized fact that when a person interprets an ambiguous social situation he is apt to expose his own personality as much as the phenomenon to which he is attending” (Murray, 1938, p. 530).

Some TAT cards are shown to both male and female subjects; others are shown to members of one sex only. An illustrative card and responses given to it by tv.’o different individuals are shown in Figure 4.2. The card, given to female subjects, is described bv Murray as “The portrait of a young woman. A weird old woman with a shawl over her head is grimacing in the background.” Common themes given in response to this card are stories of disappointment with a parent, of parental pressure, and of sad thoughts about the past. In addition, some women appear to see the younger woman as having a vision of her evil self or of herself in old a’ge (Holt, 1978).

The thinking behind the TAT is clearly related to the psychodynamic view. According to Murray (1938), the TAT is used to discover unconscious and inhibited tendencies. The assumption is that subjects are not aware they are talking about themselves and thus, their defenses can be bypassed: “If the procedure had merely exposed conscious fantasies and remembered events it would have been useful enough, but it did more than this. It gave the experimenter excellent clues for the divination of unconscious thematic formations!” (p.534).

TAT responses of subjects can be scored systematically according to a scheme developed by Murray, or on a more impressionistic basis (Cramer, 1996; Cramer & Block, 1998). The test is used both in clinical work and in experimental studies of human motivation. The tat assumes a close relationship between the expressed fantasy (story about the TAT card) and underlying motivation, as well as a relationship between such fantasy and behavior. Efforts to test these assumptions have met with mixed results. Fantasy can be associated v/ith the expression of motives in behavior arid can also substitute

CLINICAL APPLICATIONS

Illustration I: This is the picture of a woman

who all of her life has been a very suspicious, conniving person. She’s looking in the mirror and she sees reflected behind her c;: image of what she will be as an old woman—still a suspicious, conniving son of person. She can’t stand the thought that that’s what her life will eventually lead her to and ••he smashes the minor and runs out of the house screamimg and goes out of her mind and lives in an institution for the rest of her life.

Illustration 2: This woman has always emphasised beauty in her life. As a little girl she was praised for being pretty and as a young woman was able to attract lots of men with her beauty. While secretly feeling anxious and unworthy much of the time, her outer beauty helped to disguise these feelings from the world and, sometimes, from lierself. Now that she is getting on in years and her children nre leaving home, she is worried about the future. She looks in the mirror and imagines herself as an old hag—the worst possible person she could become, ugly and nasty—and wonders what the future holds for her. It is a difficult and depressing time for her.

Figure 4.2 Illustrative TAT Card and Responses to It.

o’ the expression cf motives in behavior. Thus, for example, a person with a fa^ta.8 m^tive to be ^SSres’-ive with others may express this motive in both binnu ^ r• and behavio;:. but the person may also express it in fantasy and K :t from expression in overt behavior.

‘^STRATIVE RESEARCH USE

P^choa^6 tests have been used in nlany types of research’ both in relation to acto” illust^10 theory and BPB3″1 from ifc A study of comedians, clowns, and Wisher & p^” the use of Projective tests and the psychodynamic approach ^ons and1″‘ lt?®1^- ^I’ne ^udy attempted to understand the origins, moti-w^0 en’tert f^011^111®5 of those who make people laugh as opposed to those were Wervi n ^”"e11 acting. Professional clowns, comedians, and actors

^t can”WM and givcn P^sc^ lests such as the Rorschach and TAT. ^^vns? Pirst^L1 research contribute to our understanding of comedians and “^ite limg ‘ ey were ^uad to be funny early in life, particularly in school, suppon from their parents for their comic endeavors. Second, a

CHAPTER-1 A PSYCHODYNAMIC THEORY

number of motivations seemed to contribute to their decision to be comedians. Among the motivations suggested by the data are the following:

1. Power, ‘i he ability to control an audience and make people laugh.

2. Preoccupation with good versus evil and positive presentation of

self. “We wou’d propose that a major motive of comedians in conjuring up funniness is to prove that they are not bad or repugnant. They are obsessed with defending their basic goodness” (p. 69).

3. Concealment and Denial. Humor is used to escape from difficulty and as a screen to hide behind when feeling embarrassed or inferior.

4. Anarchy. Comedians belittle accepted norms, leave nothing sacred, and make everything laughable.

Let us consider illustrative Rorschach evidence for two of these motivations. First is the concern with good/bad or virtue/evil. A scoring system was devised to consider how frequently such themes appeared in the Rorschach records. Illustrative responses were those referring directly to good and bad (e.g., bad person, vu-tuous look), those referring to religious matters Ce.g., church, angel, devil, heaven, purgatory), and those referring to persons often linked with good/bad (e.g., police officer, criminal, judge, sinner). The Rorschach records of 35 comedians and clowns were found to have significantly more such good/bad references than did the records of 35 actors who were not comedians. Second is the concern with concealment and denial. Many of the Rorschach responses seemed to express denial that things are as bad or threatening as they seem. For example, consider the following responses: “Faces. Evil looking. The evil not very svil. A put on.” “Mephisto…charming character.” “Tiger. Lovable tiger.” “Monster… He’s nice.” “Wolfman… He’s misunderstood…People are afraid. If you walk up and talk to him, he’s a decent thing.” “Two devils. Funny devils. Not to be taken seriously.” In analyzing the Rorschach records of comics, it was found that they contained significantly more of these “not bad” images than did the records of actors. In addition, the records of comics were found to have significantly more concealment themes (e.g., hiding, mask, disguise, magic, tricks) than did the records of actors.

Projectiye Tests—Do They work?

Projeciive tests have been widely used by personality and clinical psychologists during the past half-century. The tests have been administered to literally millions of persons (Lilienfeld, Wood, & Garb, 2000). Given their widespread use over the years, the natural question to ask is “Do they work?” By “work,” in the context of psychological testing, one generally means “Do they predict important life outcomes?” In the terminology we introduced in Chapter 2, the question is whether the tests are valid.

This question is more complicated than it sounds. There are at least two complications. The first is the possibility that projective tests predict some types of outcomes but not others. It might be impossible to give a simple “yes/no” answer to the question “Do projective tests work?” because they might work, or be valid, for predicting only some types of outcomes. A second complication is that there are different ways of scoring projective tests. Over the years, different psychologists have developed different schemes for inter-

CLIMCAL APPLICATIONS

eting an<^ classifying peoples responses to projective te^i items (e.g., ?ramer, 1991; Exner, 1986; Westen, 1990). It is possible, then, that some scor-

(-[•arner, iv-", ^i^i, »^uu, v.^oi^.i, i^u/. 11. 13 ^u.i.iiui'-. • „ cysierns might work well, whereas others might not

^These complications suggest that one cannot answer the question of •hether projective tests work by considering only one or two isolated studies. , ,(ead, what is required are comprehensive reviews of the various scoring chemes and the range of outcomes that the psychologist m'ght wish to pre-ilict ^ particularly extensive review of this sort was completed by Lilienfeld and colleagues (2000). These authors were attentive to the complexities involved in assessing the validity of projective tests. They reviewed research on a variety of projective methods, including the Rorschach and TAT, and on a variety of methods for scoring responses on these tests.

What did they find? On the one hand, their review indicated that some scor-ine methods are valid tor some purposes. >-or example, when TAT stories are scored for the presence of themes related to achievement motivation, as suggested by psychologists such as David McClelland (McCleliand, Koestner, & Weinberger, 1989), there is evidence that the TAT responses are correlated with measures of motivated behavior. TAT motive measures also predict the degree to which people remember daily events, with individuals showing greater memory for events that are linked to their motives (Woike, 1995;

Woike, Gershkovich, Piorkowski, & Polo, 1999). However, such positive results proved to be exceptions. Lilienfeld and colleagues (.2000) review indicated that projective tests commonly do nnt work. For example, although there may be a variety of ways to score Rorschach responses, the choice of scoring scheme seems not to make much difference; "the overwhelming majority of Rorschach indexes" (Lilienfeld et al., 2000, p. 54) were not consistently related to outcomes of interest. And although there may be some validity to methods for scoring achievement themes in TAT responses, "most TAT . scoring systems" (p. 54), like the Rorschach systems, also lack validity.

These negative conclusions about the validity of projective tests are congruent with those of many other scholars (e.g., Dawes, 1994,Rorer, 1990) who have taken an objective look at research on projective tests and have found that they simply do not work well enough to be used in clinical practice. Inueed. the Lilienfeld group (2000) recommend that students of psychology no ^nger should obtain extensive training in the t..;e of these tests, and note at a committee of the American Psychological Association has concurred at projective tests should not be a component of 21st-century training in

1. hy ^on't projective tests work very well, that is, why is it that they rarely Th^ e ^y^^E^ts to predict life outcomes with high levels of accuracy? Th. r.are "^"y possible reasons, but two stand out as particularly important (tv/o .rstcollcerns the question of inter-judge reliability: If two psychologists \vi(L    ^es / score a person's responses to a projective test, will they agree tionna^ another ^ the judgments be reliable)? When using standard ques-you tak"'    ^l^bility of scoring can be taken for granted; for example, if ^ore th a "'"^P^hoice test, a person or a machine-scoring system can' • are not ^ est wit^1 P®^0! accuracy. Sut with projective tests, psychologists Plex verbal lne with ""^P10 multiple-choice responses but, rather, with com-"""s may statements that must be interpreted. The psychologist's interpreta-' '"^ct not only the thoughts of the person taking the test, but those.

122                  CHAPTER •) A PSYCHODYNAMIC THEORY

1. of the psychologist who does the si-uring. The thoughts, feelings, and interpretive biases of the psychologist may influence the scoring of the test. If different psychologists have different interpretive biases, then inter-judge reliability will be low. Research indicates that projective tests often do suffer from this problem. The inter-judge reliability of scoring is not sufficiently high. Even when using the most well-developed of the Rorschach scoring systems, "only about half of the Rorschach variables reach a "minimum acceptable threshold" of reliability (Lilienfeld et al., 2000, p. 33). If different psychologists do not even agree on how to score a person's test responses, then the scores that they compute are, of course, unlikely to yield accurate predictions of the '                     persons behavior.

A second limitation is that the content of the projective test items commonly has nothing to do with the content of the test taker's day-to-day life. It might be that an individual exhibits a distinctive style of thinking when con-templat.ng, for example, relations with members of the opposite sex to which he or she is attracted. A psychological test that contained stimuli representing members of the opposite sex might pick up on this thinking style. But there is no guarantee that the person's thinking style will manifest itself when he or she is confronted with abstract blotches of ink. The few projective tests that are successful tend to be useful "stimuli that are especially relevant to the construct being assessed" (Lilienfeld et al., 2000, p. 55); for example, researchers interested in people's thoughts about interpersonal relations might use TAT cards that feature interpersonal themes (Westen, 1991). But this commonly is not done; instead, context commonly has been disregarded, and a generic set of stimulus materials (e.g., the set of Rorschach cards) is used to predict an individual's thoughts and feelings in a wide variety of contexts. And here the predictions commonly fail. As you will see in subsequent chapters, other personality theories employ psychological testing procedures that are much more sensitive to these issues of social context than are the projective tests of psy-chodynamic theory.

What do the limitations of projective testing say about Freud's psychoanalytic theory of personality? On the one hand, some might argue that they say very little. In evaluating Freud, it is important to recall that he himself did not develop or use projective tests. He relied entirely on the free association method in clinical interviews. So Freud's theory might be fine, even if the testing procedures developed by followers of Freud are flawed. On the other hand, one potential achievement of a personality theury is that its theoretical ideas might inspire the construction of psychological testing procedures with high levels of reliability and validity. Whatever its other strengths, psychoanalysis generally has failed to achieve this goal. Although future developments may well improve the validity of testing methods, and thus respond to the criticisms that have been raised (Lilienfeld et al., 2000), psychological testing and prediction unquestionably is not a strength of the psychodynamic tradition.

PSYCHOPATHOIOGY   It can be difficult to appreciate psychoanalytic theory without first understanding the nature of the often strange and puzzling behaviors that were brought to Freud's attention. Freud spent most of his professional time working with patients with neurotic disorders. In fact, the most critical elements in

PSYCHOPATHOLOGY

rheory are based on the observations that came from this work. In the 'ls rse of these investigations, Freud decided that the psychological processes c ,. patients were not peculiar to those with neurotic disturbances, but 0 Id be found to one degree or another, and in one form or another, in all c nie Thus, though originally based on observations with patients, his theo-

s a general theory of personality functioning rather than only a theory of ^normal behavior.

PERSONALITY TYPES

As noted, Freud thought that the first five years of life were critical in the individual's development. During these years, it is possible for a number of failures to occur in the development of the instincts. Such failures in the development are called fixations. If individuals receive so little gratification during a stage of development that they are afraid to go to the next stage, or if they receive so much gratification that there is no motivation to move on, a fixation will occur. If a fixation occurs, the individual will try to obtain the same type of satisfaction that was appropriate for an earlier stage of development during later stages. For example, the individual fixated at the oral stage may continue to seek oral gratification in eating, smoking, or drinking. A developmental phenomenon related to that of fixation is regression. In regression, the individual seeks to return to an earlier mode of satisfaction, an earlier point of fixation. Regression often occurs under conditions of stress, so that many people overeat, smoke, or drink too much alcohol only during periods of frustration and anxiety.

Tie Oral Personality

The concepts of the stages of development, fixation, and regression are of tremendous importance to the psychoanalytic theory of development. One of its most fascinating aspects is the way in which personality characteristics are developed in early life and maintained thereafter. For each of the early stages ° "^slopment, there is a corresponding character type that is developed cause of partial fixations at that stage (Table 4.1). The characteristics of the r.,1 personality, for example, relate to processes going on during the oral

ge of Envelopment that the individual maintains in later life. Oral person hav"^ are nareissistic in that they are only interested in themselves and do not e a clear recognition of others as separate entities. Other people are seen

--—iL  Personality Qiaraclerislics Assodoled wilh Psychoanalytic Personality Types

feS2wuty Type Ond-—

Demanding, impatient, envious, covetous, jealous, rageful,

depressed (feels empty), mistrustful, pessimistic

Rigid, striving for power and control, concerned with shoulds

and oughts, pleasure and possessions, anxiety over waste and

loss of control, concern with whether to submit or rebel

Male: exhibitionistic, competitive, striving for success, emphasis

on being masculine—macho—potent

Female: naive, seductive, exhibitionistic, flir

CHAPTER 4 A PSYCHODYNAM1C THEORY

only in terms of what they can give (feed). Oral personalities are always asking for something, either in terms of a modest, pleading request or an aggressive demand.

The Anal Personality

The anal personality stems from the anal stage of development. In contrast to gratiBcation associated with the mouth and oral activity, which can be expressed in adulthood in a relatively unrepressed form, the gratifications of anal impulses must undergo considerable transformation. In general, the traits of the anal character are related to processes going on at the anal stage of development that have not been completely relinquished. The important processes are the bodily processes (accumulation and release of fecal material) and interpersonal relations (the struggle of wills over toilet training). Tying the two together, the anal person sees excretion as symbolic of enormous power. That such a view persists is shown in many everyday expressions such as the reference to the toilet as "the throne." The change from the oral to the anal character is one from "give me" to "do what I tell you," or from "I have to give you" to "I must obey you."

The anal character is known by a triad of traits, called the anal triad: orderliness and cleanliness, parsimony and stinginess, and obstinacy. The emphasis on cleanliness is expressed in the saying "Cleanliness is next to godliness." The anal-compulsive personality has a need to keep everything clean and in order, representing a reaction formation against an interest in things that are disorderly and unclean. The second trait of the triad, parsimony/stinginess, relates to the anal-compulsive's interest in holding on to things, an interest dating back to a wish to retain the powerful and important feces. The third trait in the triad, obstinacy, relates to the anal character's infantile defiance against parting with stools, particularly on command by others. Dating back to toilet training and the struggle of wills, anal personalities often seek to be in control of things and have power or dominance over others.

The Phallic Character

Just as the oral and aiial character types reflect partial fixations at the first two stages of development, the phallic character represents the result of a partial fixation at the stage of the Oedipus complex. Fixation here has different implications for men and women, and particular attention has been given to die results of partial fixation for males. Whereas success for the oral person means "I get," and success for the anal person means "I control," success for the phallic male means "I am a man." The phallic male must deny all possible suggestions that he has been castrated. For him, success means that he is "big" in the eyes of others. He must at all times assert his masculinity and potency, an attitude exemplified by Theodore Roosevelt's saying, "Speak softly but cany a big stick." The excessive, exhibitionistic quality to the behavior of these people is expressive of the underlying anxiety concerning castration.

The female counterpart of the male phallic character is known as the hysterical personality. As a defense against Oedipal wishes, the little giri identifies to an excessive extent with her mother and femininity. She uses seductive and flirtatious behavior to maintain the interest of her father but denies its sexual intent The pattern of behavior then is carried over into adulthood, where she

PSYCHOPATHOLOCY

may attract men v.-ith flirtatious behavior but deny sexual intent and generally appear to be somewhat naive. Hysterical women idealize life, their partners, and romantic love, often finding themselves surprised by life's uglier moments.

(ONfllCT AN" DEFENSE

According to Freud, all psychopathology relates to an effort to gratify instincts that have been fixated at an earlier stage of development. Thus, in psychopathology the individual still seeks sexual and aggressive gratification in infantile forms. However, because of its association with past trauma, expression of this wish may signal danger to the ego and lead to the experience of anxiety. As a result, there is a conflict situation in which the same behaviors are associated with both pleasure and pain. For example, a person may seek to be dependent on others but fear that if this is done he or she will be vulnerable to frustration and loss (pain). Another example is a wish to indulge in sexual behavior that is blocked by feelings of guilt and fear of punishment or injury. A third example is the conflict between a wish to retaliate against powerful others—representing the parents—and a fear that these figures will themselves retaliate with force and destruction. In each case there is a conflict between a wish and anxiety. In such a situation the result is often that the individual can't "say no," can't be assertive, or otherwise feels blocked and unhappy (T^ble 4.2).

As noted in the preceding discussion, a critical part of the conflict is anxiety. To reduce the painful experience of anxiety, defense mechanisms, as outlined in Chapter 3, are brought into play. Thus, for example, the person may deny his or her aggressive feelings or project them onto others. In either case, the person no longer has to be afraid of the aggressive feelings. In sum, in psychopathology there is a conflict between a drive or wish (instinct) and the ego's sense (anxiety) that danger will ensue if the wish is expressed (discharged). To guard against this and to ward off anxiety, defense mechanisms are used. In structural terms, a neurosis is a result of conflict between the id

we <-2   Psydioonalytic Theory of Psydiopall-jlogy

'^w^wConflicts v/ish"———'————

Iwou" like to have sex ^thatpereon.

CHAPTER 4 A PSYCHODYNAMIC TH EORY

only in terms of what they can give (feed). Oral personalities are always asking for something, either in terms, of a modest, pleading request or an aggres. sive demand.

The Anal Personality

The anal personality stems from the anal stage of development. In contrast to gratification associated with the mouth and oral activity, which can be expressed in adulthood in a relatively unrepressed form, the gratifications of anal impulses must undergo considerable transformation. In general, the traits of the anal character are related to processes going on at the anal stage of development that have not been completely relinquished. The important processes are the bodily processes (accumulation and release of fecal material) and interpersonal relations (the struggle of wills over toilet training). Tying the two together, the anal person sees excretion as symbolic of enormous power. That such a view persists is shown in many everyday expressions such as the reference to the toilet as "the throne." The change from the oral to the anal character is one from "give me" to "do what I tell you," or from "I have to give you" to "I must obey you."

The anal character is known by a triad of traits, called the anal triad: orderliness and cleanliness, parsimony and stinginess, and obstinacy. The emphasis on cleanliness is expressed in the saying "Cleanliness is next to godliness." The anal-compulsive personality has a need to keep everything clean and in order, representing a reaction formation against an interest in things that are disorderly and unclean. The second trait of the triad, parsimony/stinginess, relates to the anal-compulsive's interest in holding on to things, an interest dating back to a wish to retain the powerful and important feces. The third trait in the triad, obstinacy, relates to the anal character's infantile defiance against parting with stools, particularly on command by others. Dating back to toilet training and the struggle of wills, anal personalities often seek to be in control of things and have power or dominance over others.

The Phallic Character

Just as the oral and anal character types reflect partial fixations at the first two stages of development, the phallic character represents the result of a partial fixation at the stage of the Oedipus complex. Fixation here has different implications for men and women, and particular attention has been given to the results of partial fixation for males. Whereas success for the oral person means "I get," and success for the anal person means "I control," success for the phallic male means "I am a man." The phallic male must deny all possible suggestions that he has been castrated. For him, success means that he is "big" in the eyes of others. He must at all times assert his masculinity and potency an attitude exemplified by Theodore Roosevelt's saying, "Speak softly but carry a big stick." The excessive, exhibitionistic quality to the behavior of these people is expressive of the underlying anxiety concerning castration.

The female counterpart of the male phallic character is known as the hysterical personality. As a defense against Oedipal wishes, the little girl identifies to an excessive extent with her mother and femininity. She uses seductive and flirtatious behavior to maintain the interest of her father but denies its sexual intent The pattern of behavior then is carried over into adulthood, where she

PSYCHOPATHOLOCV

y attract men v.-;th flirtatious behavior but deny sexual intent and generally pear to be somewhat naive. Hysterical women idealize life, their partners, and romantic love, often finding themselves surprised by life's uglier moments.

CONFLICT AND DEFENSE

According to Freud, all psychopathology relates to an effort to gratify 'nstincts that have been fixated at an earlier stage of development. Thus, in psychopathology the individual still seeks sexual and aggressive gratification in infantile forms. However, because of its association with past trauma, expression of this wish may signal danger to the ego and lead to the experience of anxiety. As a result, there is a conflict situation in which the same behaviors are associated with both pleasure and pain. For example, a person may seek to be dependent on others but fear that if this is done he or she will be vul- . nerable to frustration and loss (pain). Another example is a wish to indulge in sexual behavior that is blocked by feelings of guilt and fear of punishment or injury. A third example is the conflict between a wish to retaliate against powerful others—representing the parents—and a fear that these figures will themselves retaliate with force and destruction. In each case there is a conflict between a wish and anxiety. In such a situation the result is often that the individual can't "say no," can't be assertive, or otherwise feels blocked and unhappy (T^ble 4.2).

As noted in the preceding discussion, a critical part of the conflict is anxiety To reduce the painful experience of anxiety, defense mechanisms, as outlined in Chapter 3, are brought into play. Thus, for example, the person may deny his or her aggressive feelings or project them onto others. In either case, the person no longer has to be afraid of the aggressive feelings. In sum, in psychopathology there 's a conflict between a drive or wish (instinct) and the ego's sense (anxiety) that danger will ensue if the wish is expressed (discharged). To guard against this and to ward off anxiety, defense mechanisms are used. In structural terms, a neurosis is a result of conflict between the id

"bfe^ Psydioaiialylic Theory of PsYchoMlhdoaY

^26               CHAPTER 4 A PSYCHODYNAM1C THEORY

and the ego. In process terms, an instinct striving for discharge triggers anxi-i ety, leading to a defense mechanism.

In many cases the conflict between the id and ego, between instinct and ' defense, leads to the development of a symptom. A symptom, such as a tic, psychological paralysis, or compulsion, represents a disguised expression of a repressed impulse. The meaning of the symptom, the nature of the dangerous instinct, and the nature of the defense all remain unconscious. For example, a • mother may be painfully obsessed with the fear that something will happen to her child. Underlying the obsession may be rage at her child and anxiety about the harm she may do to the child. The symptom of the obsession expresses both the mother's feelings that she may harm or injure the child and her defense against it in terms of excessive preoccupation with the child's welfare. To take another example, in a hand-washing compulsion—in which a person feels compelled to wash his or her hands continuously—the symptom may express both the wish to be dirty or do "dirty" things and the defense against the wish in terms of excessive cleanliness. In both of these cases the person is unaware of the wish or the defense and is troubled only by the symptom. Many people do not suffer from such specific problems or symptoms, but analysts suggest that all psychological problems can still be understood in these terms.

To summarize the psychoanalytic theory of psychopathology, there is an arrest in the development of the person that is associated with conflicts between wishes and fears. The wishes and fears that were part of a specific time period in childhood are now carried over into adolescence and adulthood. The person attempts to handle the anxiety that is a painful part of this conflict by using defense mechanisms. However, if the conflict becomes too great, the use of defense mechanisms can lead to neurotic symptoms or psychotic withdrawal from reality. Symptoms express the unconscious conflict between the wish or drive and anxiety. In each case of abnormal behavior there is an unconscious conflict between a wish and a fear that dates back to an earlier period in childhood. So as adults, there continue to be childlike parts of us that, under stress and some other conditions, may become more active and troublesome.

How does behavior change come about? Once a person has established a behavioral pattern, a way of thinking about and responding'to situations, through what process does a change in personality take place? The psychoanalytic theory of growth suggests that there is a normal course of human personality development, one that occurs because of an optimum degree of frustration. Where there has been too little or too much frustration at a particular stage of growth, personality does not develop normally and a fixation takes place. When this occurs, the individual repeats patterns of behavior regardless of other changes in situations. Given the development of such a neurotic pattern, how is it possible to break the cycle and move forward?

INSIGHTS INTO THE UNCONSCIOUS; FREE ASSOCIATION AND DREAM INTERPRETATION

In his early efforts to change behavior, Freud used a method called cathartic hypnosis. The view then held was that neurotic symptoms would be relieved by the discharge of blocked emotions. Freud did not like using hypnosis; since

BEHAVIOR CHANGE

CURKENT ApplHATIONS •

EMOTIONAL SUPPRESSION AND HEALTH

More than 50 years ago, psychoanalysis sug-ested a relation between personality dynamos and health, in particular a relation between specific conflicts and specific somatic difficulties. In developing the area of psychosomatic medicine, each disorder was thought to result from a specific emotional constellation. For example, peptic ulcers, described as the "Wall Street stomach," were thought to result from an unconscious craving for love and dependence, which was defended against by an active, productive, aggressive lifestyle. Hypertension was thought to be associated with individuals who were gentle in outward manner but boiling with rage inside.

This line of psychology fell into disfavor because the relation between psychological

factors and bodily illness seemed more complex than was originally suggested. Although different in form, currently there is a return to interest in some of these early psychoanalytic views. In particular, there is evidence that the continued suppression of emotion can be detrimental to one's health. For example, it may play a negative role in the course of cancer, ulcers, and heart disease. Alternatively, the expression, or nonsuppres-sion, of emotion may represent an active, adaptive style of coping that reduces the risk of illness and bodes well for the course of an illness.

sources: Jensen, 1987: Levy, 1984; Pennebaker, 1985, 1990; Petrie, Booth & Pennebaker. 19"8: Temoshok, 1985. 1991.

'awo to betierf » cutf dupoufwi it [ml for four liollli.

(Copyright © 1985 American Psychological Association. Reprinted by permission from Psychology Today.)

CHAPTER 4 A PSYCHODYNAMIC THEORY

not all patients could be hypnotized, the results were often transient, and hp did not feel that he was learning much about mental functioning. The second development in technique was that of "waking suggestion". Here Freud put his hand on the patient's head and assured the patient, that he or she could recall and face repressed past emotional experiences. With the increased interest in the interpretation of dreams, Freud focused on the free association method as basic to psychoanalysis. In free association the patient is asked to report to the analyst every thought that comes to mind, to delay reporting nothing, to withhold nothing, to bar nothing from coming to consciousness.

Dreams are the "royal road" to the unconscious. Through the free association method the analyst and patient are able to go beyond the manifest (obvious) content of the dream to the latent content, to the hidden meaning that expresses the unconscious wish. Dreams, like symptoms, are disguises and partial wish fulfillments. In the dream, the person can satisfy a hostile or sexual wish in a disguised and thereby safe way. For example, rather than dreaming of killing someone, one may dream of a battle in which a particular figure is killed. In such a case the wish may remain at least somewhat obvious, but in other cases the wish may be much more disguised. Free association allows the disguise to be uncovered.

At first, Freud thought that making the unconscious conscious v.'as sufficient to effect change and cure. This was in keeping with an early emphasis on repressed memories as the basis for pathology. Freud then realized that more than the recovery of memories was involved. Rather, emotional insight into the wishes and conflicts that had remained hidden was necessary.

The process of therapeutic cha nge in psychoanalysis involves coming to grips with emotions and wishes that were previously unconscious and struggling with these painful experiences in a relatively safe environment. If psychopathology involves fixation at an early stage of development, then in psychoanalysis individuals become free to resume their noimal psychological development. If psychopathology involves damming up the instincts and using energy for defensive purposes, then psychoanalysis involves a redistribution of energy so that more energy is available for mature, guiltless, less rigid, and more gratifying activities. If psychopathology involves conflict and defense mechanisms, then psychoanalysis invoh'es reducing conflict and freeing the patient from the limitations of the defensive processes. If psychopathology involves an individual dominated by the unconscious and the tyranny of the id, then psychoanalysis involves making conscious what was unconscious and putting under control of the ego what was formerly under the domination of the id or superego.

THE THERAPEUTIC PROCESS: TRANSFERENCE

In sum, then, psychoanalysis is viewed as a learning process in which the individual resumes and completes the growth process that was interrupted when the neurosis began. The principle involved is the reexposure of a patient, under more favorable circumstances, to the emotional situations that could not be handled in the past Such reexposure is affected by the transference relatioiiship and the development of a transference neurosis. The term transference refers to a patient's development of attitudes toward the analyst based on attitudes held by that patient toward earlier parental figures. In the sense that transference relates to distortions of rsality based on past experiences,

ll^ll.AVIOR CHANC.F,

nsference occurs in everyone's daily life and in all forms of psychotherapy. r example, there is research evidence ihat individuals have mental images nciated with emotion that are based on early interpersonal relationships. '-These emotionally laden mental representations influence the ways in which

ip view and respond to other individuals as well as feelings about ourselves. nhen this occurs in an automatic, unconscious way (Andersen & Chen, 2002).

In expressing transference attitudes toward the analyst, patients duplicate . therapv their interactions with people in their li/es and their past interactions with significant figures. For example, if patients feel that the analyst's takins notes may lead to exploitation by the analyst, they are expressing attitudes thev hold toward people they meet in their daily existence and earlier figures in their lives. In free associating, oral characters may be concerned about whether they are "feeding" the analyst and whether the analyst gives them enough in return; anal characters may be concerned about who is controlling the sessions; phallic characters may be concerned about who will win in competitive struggles. Such attitudes, often part of the unconscious daily existence of the patient, come to light in the course of analysis.

Although transference is a part of all relationships and of all forms of therapy, psychoanalysis is distinctive in using it as a dynamic force in behavior change. Many formal qualities of the analytic situation are structured to enhance the development of transference. The patient lying on the couch supports the development of a dependent relationship. The scheduling of frequent meetings (up to five or six times a week) strengthens the emotional importance of the analytic relationship to the patient's daily existence. Finally, the fact that patients become so tied to their analysts, while knowing sn little about them as people, means that their responses are almost completely determined by their neurotic conflicts. The analyst remains a mirror or blank screen on which the individual projects wishes and anxieties.

CHAPTER 4 A PSYCHODYNAMIC THEORY

Encouraging transference, or providing the -circumstances that allow it to develop, leads to the development of the transference neurosis. It is here that patients play out, full-blown, their old conflicts. Patients now invest the major aspects of their relationship with the analyst with the wishes and anxieties of the past. The goal is no longer to get well, but to gain from the analyst what they had to do without in childhood. Rather than seeking a way out of competitive relationships, they may only seek to castrate the analyst; rather than seeking to become less dependent on others, they may seek to have the analyst gratify all their dependency needs. The fact that these attitudes have developed within the analysis allows patients and their analysts to look at and understand the instinctual and defensive components of the original infantile conflict. Because the patient invests considerable emotion in the situation, the increased understanding is emotionally meaningful. Change occur:: when insight has been gained, when patients realize, on both an intellectup! and an emotional level, the nature of their conflicts and feel free, in terms of their new perceptions of themselves and the world, to gratify their instincts in a mature, conflict-free way.

Whereas guilt and anxiety prevented growth in the past, the analytic situation allows the individual to deal anew with the old conflicts. Why should the response be any different at this time? Basically, change occurs in analysis because of the three therapeutic factors. First, in analysis the conflict is less intense than it was in the original situation. Second, the analyst assumes an attitude that is different from that of the parents. Finally, patients in analysis are older and more mature, that is, they are able to use parts of their ego that have developed to deal with the parts of their functior.ing that have not developed. These three factors, creating as they do the opportunity for releaming, provide the basis for what Alexander and French (1946) call the "corrective emotional experience." Psychoanalytic theory suggests that through insight into old conflicts, through an understanding of the needs for infantile gratifications and recognition of the potential for mature gratification, and through an understanding of old anxieties and a recognition of their lack of relevance to current realities, patients may progress toward maximum instinctual gratification within the limits set by reality and their own moral convictions.

A Case Example: Little Hans

Although many psychiatrists and psychologists have spent considerable time treating patients, Freud is one of the very few who have reported cases in detail. Most of Freud's cases come from early in his career. Although these case presentations are useful in understanding many aspects of psychoanalytic theory, it is important to remember that they occurred prior to Freud's development of his theory of the sexual and aggressive instincts, prior to the development of the structural

model, and prior to the development of the theory of anxiety and defense mechanisms.

Description of the Problem

The case of Little Hans, published in 1909, deals with the analysis of a phobia in a five-year-old boy. It involves the treatment of the boy by his father and does not represent Freud's direct participation in the therapeutic process. The boy was bothered by a fear that

, ^ would bite him, and therefore refused a leave the house. The boy's father kept to j[g,j notes on his treatment and frequent-F discussed his progress with Freud. AKhough the "patient" wa= not -reated by Feud, the case of Little Hans is important h cause it illustrates the theory of infantile exuality, the functioning of the Oedipus complex and castration anxiety, the dynamics of symptom formation, and the process of behavior change.

Events Leading Up to Development of the Phobia

Our account of events in the life of Little Hans begins at age three. At this point he had a lively interest in his penis, which he called his "widdler." What was striking about Hans during this period was his pleasure in touching his own penis a;-.d his preoccupation with penises—or "widdlers"—in others. For example, he wanted to know if his mother had a widdler and was fascinated with the process by which cows are milked. The interest in touching his penis, however, led to threats by his mother. "If you do that, I shall send you to Dr. A. to cut off your widd'er. And then what will you widdle with?" Thus, there was a direct castration threat on the part of a parent, in this case the mother. Freud pinpointed this as the beginning of Hans's castration complex.

Hans's interest in widdlers extended tc not-"'g the size of the lion's widdler at the zoo snd analyzing the differences between animate and inanimate objects—dogs and hors-es have widdlers, tables and chairs do not. Hans was curious about many things, but "•eud related bis general thirst for knowledge ° sexual curiosity. Hans continued to be "'terested in whether his mother had a wid-sr and said to her, "I thought you were so , g y0"^ have a widdler like a horse." When •"-was three and a half, a sister was bom, ^ °Euso became a focus for his widdler con-^nls- "But her widdier's still quite small. A enshe grows up, it'll get bigger all right."

who1?"16 to preud. Hans could not admit ""^ he reallx, ,,.„ ^,^.i., ^^ a.^ „,„.. „„

A CASE EXAMPLE: LITTLE HANS                  )

would have to face his own castration anxieties. These anxieties occurred at a time when he was experiencing pleasure in the organ, as witnessed in his comments to his mother while she dried and powdered him after his bath.

hans: Why don't you put your finger

there?

mother: Because that'd be piggish. hans: What's that? Piggish? Why? (laughing) But it's great fun.

Thus Hans, now more than four years old, was preoccupied with his penis, experienced pleasure in it and concern about the loss of it, and began some seduction of his mother. It was at this point that his nervous disorders became apparent. The father, attributing the difficulties to sexual overexcitation due to his mother's tenderness, wrote Freud that Hans was "afraid that a horse will bite him in the street" and that this fear seemed somehow to be connected with his having been frightened by seeing a large penis. As you remember, he had noticed at a very early age what large penises horses have, and at that time he inferred that, as his mother was so large, she must "have a widdler like a horse." " Hans was afraid of going into the street and was depressed in the evenings. He had bad dreams and was frequently taken into his mother's bed. While walking in the street with his nurse, he became extremely frightened and sought to return home to be with his mother. The fear that a horse would bite him became a fear that the horse would come into his room. He had developed a full-blown phobia, an irrational dread or fear of an object. What more can we leam about this phobia? How are we to account for its development? As Freud notes, we must do more than simply call this a small boy's foolish fears.

134   CHAPTER 4 A PSYCHODYNAMIC THEORY

CHAPTER 4 A PSYCHODYNAMIC THEORY

his intense hostility toward women. He assumes a passive orientation, a continual role playing and, behind a facade of tact, he continues his rage, sorrow, and ambition."

What kinds of stories did Jim teli on the TAT? Mo.it striking about these stories were the sadness and hostility involved in all interpersonal relationships. In one story a boy is dominated by his mother, in another an insensitive gangster is capable of gross inhumanity, and in a third a husband is upset to leam that his wife is not a virgin. In particular, the relationships between men and women constantly involve one putting down the other. Consider this story.

Looks like two older people. The woman is sincere, sensitive, and dependent on the man. There is something about the man's expression that bespeaks of insensitivity—the way he looks at her, as if he conquered her. There is not the same compassion and security in her presence that she feels in his. In the end, the woman gets very hurt and is left to fend for herself. Normally I would think that they were married but in this case I don't because two older people who are married would be happy with one another.

In this story we have a man being sadistic to a woman. We also see the use of the defensive mechanism of denial in Jim's suggestion that these two people cannot be married since older married people are always happy with one another. In the story tliat followed the aforementioned one, there is again the theme of hostile mistreatment of a woman. In this story there is a more open expression of the sexual theme, along with evidence of some sexual role confusion.

This picture brings up a gross thought. I think of Candy. The same guy who took advantage of Candy. He's praying over her. Not the last rites, but he has convinced her that he is some powerful person and she's looking for him to bestow his good graces upon her. His knee is on the bed, he's unsuccessful, she's naive. He goes to bed with her for mystical purposes. [Blushes] She goes on being naive and continues to be susceptible to that kind of thing. She has a very, very sweet compassionate look. Could it pOAsi’uly be that this is supposed to be a guy wearing a tie? I’ll stick with the former.

The psychologist interpreting these stories observed that Jim appeared to be immature, naive, and characterized by a gross denial of all that is unpleasant or dirty, the latter for him including both sexuality and marital strife. The report continued: “He is vacillating between expressing sadistic urges and experiencing a sense of victimization. Probably he combines both, often in indirect expressions of hostility while feeling unjustly treated or accused. He is confused about what meaningful relationships two people can have. He is ambivalently idealistic and pessimistic about his own chances for a stable relationship. Since he sees sex as dirty and as a mode for using or being used by his partner,

RELATCD POINTS OF VIEW AND RCCEXT DEVELOPMENTS

, -g involvement. At the same time he craves attention, needs to be

onized, and is often preoccupied with sexual urges.” re Between the Rorschach and the TAT, a number of important themes

pree One theme involves a genera! lack of warmth in interperson-e yiationships, in particular a disparaging—and at times sadistic— a entation toward women. In relation to women, Jim has a conflict iTtween sexual preoccupation and the feeling that sex is dirty and •nvolves hostility. The second theme involves experiencing tension and nxiety behind a facade of poise. A third theme involves conflict and confusion about his sexual identity. Although there is evidence of intelligence and creative potential, there also is evidence of rigidity and inhibition in relation to the unstructured nature of the projective tests. Compulsive defenses, intellectualization, and denial are only partially successful in helping him deal with his anxieties.

Comments on the Data

This data about Jim highlights the most attractive feature of projective tests. Their disguise enables one to penetrate tlie facade of someone’s personality (in psychoanalytic terms, his defenses) to view the person s underlying needs, motives, or drives. The picture of Jim revealed in the Rorschach and TAT differs from that presented in his autobiography (Chapter 2), which provided some evidence of conflicted relationships with women yet did not uncover the psychological themes evident in Jim’s projective test responses.

1. As we not only examine psychoanalytic theory but also look forward to other theories to come, an interesting point arises. It is difficult to see how other theories of personality could make as much use of this data about Jim as psychoanalytic theory- can. The assessment practices associated with other theories are unlikely to reveal this sort of information. It is only on the Rorschach that we obtain content such as “women trying to lift weights,” “Count Dracula… ready to P^b, suck blood. Ready to go out and strangle some woman,” and Pink cotton candy.” The TAT is unique in revealing references to nenies of sadness and hostility in interpersonal relationships. These sponses allow for the psychodynamic interpretations. An important ot Jim’s personality functioning appears to involve a defense cand”51 sadistic “fges- The references to sucking blood and to cotton tatio^ together with the rest °f “”• responses, allow for the interprets in?   the is Partially fixated at the oral stage. In relation to this, it

‘^gesn0’511″8 to observe that Jim has an ulcer. which involves the ve tract, and that he must drink milk to manage this condition.

^Upsv^^P^oanalytic theory includes the development of schools or RELATED POINTS OF ^cts ofpsy,01′”11′ often antagonistic, points ufview. Freud changed many VIEW AND RECENT “^ver, ^^”^”alytic theory during the course of his professional career. DEVELOPMENTS nd his followers clashed on many issues. To a certain extent

CHAPTER 4 A PSYCHODYNAMIC THEORY

there was what has been described as a religious or politicai quality (From^ 1959) to psychoanalysis, with the traditional followers being considered among the faithful and those who deviated from the fundamental principle,. being cast out from the movement. This pattern started during Freud’s life and continued afterward. A theorist such as Erik Erikson is still highly regarded by most traditional psychoanalysis, whereas the theorists considered belo\v often are not. Frequently it is hard to determine the basis for the response to one or another theorist. However, as a general rule, a theorist must retain a commitment to the following concepts to be considered a part of Freudian psychoanalysis: the sexual and aggressive instincts, the unconscious, and the stages of development. As we shall see, the theorists considered questioned one or another on these concepts and thereby approached the understanding of humans somewhat differently.

TWO EARLY CHALLENGES TO FREUD

Among the many early analysts who broke with Freud and developed their own schools of thought were Alfred Adier and Carl G. Jung. Both were early and important followers of Freud, Adier having been president of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society and Jung president of the International Psychoanalytic Society. Both split with Freud over what they felt was an excessive emphasis on the sexual instincts. The split with Jung was particularly painful for Freud since Jung was to be his “crown prince” and chosen successor. While other individuals also split with Freud and developed their own schools of thought, Adier and Jung were among the earliest, and remain the best known.

Alfred Adier (1370-1937)

For approximately a decade, Alfred Adier was an active member of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society. However, in 1911, when he presented his views to the other members of this group, the response was so hostile that he left it to form his own school of Individual Psychology. What ideas could have been considered so unacceptable to psychoanalysis? We cannot consider all of Adier a theory, but we can consider some of his early and later views to get a feeling for the important differences between those views and psychoanalysis.

Perhaps most significant in Adier’s split from Freud was his greater emphasis on social urges and conscious thoughts than on instinctual sexual urges and unconscious processes. Early in his career Adier became interested in organ inferiorities and how people compensate for them. A person with a weak organ may attempt to compensate for this weakness by making special efforts to strengthen that organ or to develop other organs. For example, someone who stutters as a child may attempt to become a great speaker, or someone with a defect in vision may attempt to develop special listening sensitivities. Whereas initially Adier was interested in bodily organ weaknesses, gradually he became interested in psychological feelings of inferiority and comper-satory strivings to mask or reduce these painful feelings. Thus whereas Freudians might see Theodore^oseYelt-^mphasis on toughness and carrying a “big stick” as a defensej|ig———SB^^nxiety. Adierians might see him as expressing compen^^BpnhgW^t^mgs of inferiority associated with boyhood v^B^^Whereas Frl^^&ught see an extremely

RELATED POINTS OF VIEW ANu RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

Birth Order: Alfred Adier emphasized the importance of birth order in personality development. Twenty-one of the first 23 U.S. astronauts were firsl-bom or only sons.

aggressive woman as expressing penis envy, Adierians might see her as expressing a masculine protest or rejection of the stereotyped feminine role of weakness and inferiority. According to Adier, how a person attempts to cope

with such feelings becomes a part of his or her style of life—a distinctive aspect of his or her personality functioning.

1. rs theory v, also noteworthy for its emphasis on how people respond to tow^T B^0111 tne selr’ ho’”‘ people respond to goals that direct their behavior their  ^le ^uture’ an<^ how the order of birth among siblings can influence gists ^•^”^”gical development. In relation to birth order, many psycholo-q^, , ve Wted the tendency for only sons or first-born sons to achieve more tirst-b9   sons m a fami^’ For example, 21 of tile first 23 U.S. astronauts were an evoi”101^only soils’ ^”^y (1996) haf placed the issue cf birth order in ^d     ona^y context, suggesting that fir»t-boms tend to be conscientious “^rvative, preserving their first-place status in-the family, whereas

1. CHAI’TCK.4 A PSYCIIODyNAMICTHtORV                                     J

later-borns, seeking tc establish alternative routes to status and success “born to rebel.” Although this view remains controversial, support f e Sulloway’s account of “conservative first-borns” and “rebellious later-born ‘r conies from both his own research and that of others (Paulhus, ‘trapnell & Chen, ‘.999)- Many ofAdler’s ideas have found their way into the general pni, lie’s thinking and are related to views later expressed by other theorists Contemporary researchers, like Adier, have become interested in power as a fundamental determinant of human behavior (Keltner, Gruenfeld, & Andersen, 2003). However, Adier’s school of individual psychology itself’has not had a major impact on personality theory and research.

CnriG. Jung (1875-1961)

Jung split with Freud in 1914—a few years after Adier—and developed his own school of thought called Analytical Psychology. This was a particularly profound event for Freud and the psychoanalytic movement As noted previ. ously, Freud had viewed Jung as an intellectual leader and his natural successor who could ensure the progress of psychoanalysis after Freud’s death. The two men also had developed an extremely close relationship, with their written correspondence suggesting that they related as much in the style of father and son as professional colleagues. However, this relationship began to deteriorate beginning in 1909, due to a mixture of professional and personal conflicts (Gay, 1998). In 1514, Jung icsigned his position as president of the International Psychoanalytic Association.

Like Adier, Jung was distressed with what he felt was an excessive emphasis on sexuality. Jung viewed the libido not as a sexual instinct, but as a generalized life energy. Although sexuality is a part of this basic energy, the libido also includes strivings for pleasure and creativity. To Jung, this reinterpreca-tion of the libido was the primary reason for his break with Freud.

Jung’s analytic psychology features additional themes that differentiate it from Freud’s psychoanalysis. Jung felt that Freud overemphasized the idea that our current behavior is a repetition of our past, with the instinctual urges and psychological repressions of childhood being repeated in adult life. Instead, Jung believed that personality developed also is marked by a forward-moving directional tendency People try to acquire a meaningful personal identity and a sense of meaning in self. Indeed, people are so forward-looking that they commonly devote efforts to religious practices that prepare them for a life after death.

A particularly distinguishing feature of Jung’s psychology is his emphasis on the evolutionary foundations of the human mind. Jung accepted Freud’s emphasis on the unconscious as a storehouse of repressed experiences from one’s life. But he added to this idea the concept of the collective unconscious. According to Jung, people have stored within their collective unconscious the cumulative experiences cf past generations. The collective unconscious, as opposed to the personal unconscious, is universal. It is shared by all humans as a result of their common ancestry. It is part of our human as wel; as our animal heritage, and thus is our link with the collective wisdom cf millions of years of past experience; ‘This psychic life is the mind of our ancient ancestors, the way in which they thought and felt, the way in which they conceived of life and the worid, of gods and human beings.. The existence of these his-i layers is presumably the source of belief in reincarnation and in mem-lonc, of nast lives” (Jung, 1939, p. 24).

1. Tl p collective unconsciou’: contains universal images or symbols, known as h types. Archetypes, such as the Mc’her archetype, are seen in fairy tales, 3fc    rnvths, and some psychotic thoughts. Jung w.is struck with similar

pcs that keep appearing, in slightly different fon>^, in different ;ultures ‘”‘   g distant from one another. For example, the Mother archetype might ‘  ynressed in different cultures ir. a variety of positive or negative forms: as vt river as all giving and nurturant, as the w”ch or threatening punisher /•Don’t fool with Mother Nature”), and as the seductive female. Archetypes be represented in our images of persons, demons, animals, natural fnrces or objects. The evidence in all cases for their heing a part of our col-] live unconscious is the:’.- universality among members of different cultures fioin past and current time periods.

Another impor.ant aspect of Jung’s theory was his emphasis on how people struggle ‘•vitrl opposing forces within them. For example,-there is the struggle between the face or mask we present to others, represented in the archetype of tlie persona, and the private or personal self. If people emphasize the persona too much, there may be a loss of sense of self and a doubting about who they ire. On the other hand, the persona, as expressed in social roles and customs, is a necessary part of living in society. Similarly, there is the struggle between the masculine and feminine parts of ourselves. Every niale !,as a feminine part (the archetype of the aniniu) and ever;’ female has a masculine pan (the archetype of the animus] to their personality. If a man rejects his feminine part he may emphasise mastery and strength to an excessive degree, appearing cold and insensitive to the feelings of others. If a woman rejects her masculine part she may be excessively absorbed in motherhood. Psychologists currently interested in stereotyped sex roles would probably applaud Jung’s emphasis on these dual aspects in everyone’s personality, although they might question his characterizing some as specifically masculine and others as feminine. An interesting yet controversial feature of Jung’s analysis is thri contention that gender-role stereotypes are not a product of an individual’s social experience, but of the experiences of one’s ancestors over the course of evolution. A similar idea is found in contempoiary evolutionary psychology (Chapter 9).

Jung emphasizes ^at all individuals face a fundamental personal task: finding unity in the self. The ta^k is to bringing into harmony, or integrate, the various opposing forces of the psyche. The person is motivated and guided along Ae path to personal knowledge and integration by the most important of all -”ngian archetype;: the self. In Jungian psychology “the self does nc: refer to °nes conscious beliefs about or^’s personal qualities. Instead, the self is an “”conscious force, specifically, an aspect of the collective unconscious that hinctions as an “organizing center” (Jung and collaborators, 1964, p. 161) of

Peon’s entire psychologies! system. Jung believed that the self often is e^reswe’^ symbolically in circular figures—the circle representing a sense of

oleness that can be achieved through self-knowledge. Mandalas, which are sv’l^kT sy;n^ols tnat contain pathways toward a centerpomt, serve as vivid ‘” ols °c tiie struggle for knowledge of our true selves. Since the self is an un’ ”t^)e °^ ^le collective unconscious, and the collective unconscious is a sh i?  ^P601 °f human personality, according to Jungian theory one expect to bad similar symbolic representations of the self across

OBJECTIVES
After studying this chapter, you should be able to
• List and discuss the major codes of professional ethics as they apply to tests and testing practices
• Compare and contrast the commonali¬ties and differences among the different codes
• Identify the important federal and state legislation that affects tests and testing practices
• Discuss relevant court decisions and their impact on tests and testing practices
• Demonstrate knowledge of legal and ethical issues in evaluation and assessment

PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS AND CODES OF ETHICS
Because of the impact of testing on society and lives, professional standards and ethics have been developed to promote responsible professional practice in psychological testing and assessment. Ethics can be viewed as moral principles adopted by an indi¬vidual or group that provide the basis for right conduct. Most professional organiza¬tions have established codes of ethics for their members to follow. In addition, state and national laws regulate ethical behavior. The primary purpose for laws and ethical codes is to protect the welfare of the client. Laws and ethical codes provide guidelines for professionals; however, neither provides exact answers to all ethical dilemmas. Thus, it is up to individual professionals in the field to reflect on their behavior and assess whether what they’re doing is in the best interest of their clients.
Although a number of professional organizations related to testing and assessment have ethical codes, the discussion will be organized around several of the general eth¬ical principles put forth by the National Board of Certified Counselors (2005), the? American Counseling Association (2005), the American Psychological Association <APA; 2002), the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing (American Edu¬cational Research Association, American Psychological Association, National Council on Measurement in Education, 1999), and the National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME; 1995).
NBCC Code of Ethics
The National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC, 2005) identifies 15 standards deal¬ing with measurement and evaluation located in section D of its Code of Ethics. The first deals with counselor competence. Counselors must recognize their limitations and perform only techniques or administer assessment instruments for which they have received appropriate training.
Counselors utilizing tests or making decisions based on test results need appro¬priate training and skills in educational and psychological measurement, validation cri¬teria, test research, and guidelines for test development and use.
The counselor must provide orientation to the examinee prior to and following administration of assessment instruments. In the orientation, the counselors must in¬form the client of the explicit use of the test results.
The counselor us responsible for the appropriate selection of the assessment in¬struments to be used, and must ensure the validity and reliability of the instrument. In¬struments that are biased or otherwise inappropriate will provide invalid information for decision making.
The counselor must be guarded when making statements to the public about spe¬cific instruments and techniques. False claims and unwarranted connotations often re¬sult from misunderstanding or poor communication.
Counselors must record when tests are not administered under standard condi¬tions or when irregularities or unusual behavior arise during testing. The behavior might invalidate the results. The NBCC code deems unsupervised or inadequately supervised tests as not meeting ethical standards. The exception to this are tests such as interest inventories, which are often designed to be self-administered and self-scored.
Counselors must maintain test security. Coaching and dissemination of test items and materials can invalidate the test results. Counselors, however, must discuss the conditions that might provide more favorable results, such as telling test takers that they can guess without any penalty.
Counselors must understand the technical limitations of an instrument when in¬terpreting the results. Counselors need to schedule periodic review and/or retesting of the client to help prevent stereotyping.
The counselor must be concerned about the welfare of the test takers. Who re¬ceives the results and how they will be used are important considerations. Interpreta¬tions must be made in light of any limitations in the instruments or norming group.
Computer-generated test administration and scoring programs may be utilized if the counselor is sure that this type of testing will provide the client with accurate re¬sults. Computer-based interpretations must be checked for validity by developers be¬fore being marketed.
If the tests report insufficient technical data, counselors must explicitly state to examinees the specific purposes for the use of such instruments.
Counselors need to be cautious when evaluating or interpreting the performance of minority group members or other individuals not represented in the standardized sample. Counselors need to recognize that test results give a picture of the test taker at only one moment in time and may become obsolete.

APA Standards
The Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct (APA, 2002) lists 11 stan¬dards for assessment. The first is that psychologists should base recommendations on information and techniques sufficient enough to substantiate their findings. They are to have conducted adequate assessment of an individual in or to support their state¬ments or conclusions.
The second standard relates to the use of assessment techniques, interviews, tests, or instruments. Psychologists must use valid and reliable assessment techniques in an appropriate manner as evidenced by research. Psychologists must consider the vari¬ous characteristics of th<; individual being assessed that might affect their judgments or reduce the accuracy of their interpretation.
The next standard relates to informed consent in assessment. Psychologists must obtain informed consent when using assessment techniques; this includes explaining the nature and purpose of the assessment, fees, involvement of third parties, and lim¬its of confidentiality.
Psychologists must not release test data (clients’ test results) unless the client gives permission to release such data. In the absence of client permission, psycholo¬gists provide test data only as required by law or court order.
The fifth standard refers to test construction. If psychologists are involved in test development, they are responsible for conducting research with tests and other assessment techniques using scientific procedures and current professional knowl¬edge for test design, standardization, validation, reduction of bias, and recommenda¬tions for use.
In interpreting test data, psychologists need to explain results in the language that can be understood by the individual being assessed. The psychologists must give ap¬propriate explanations of results.
Psychologists have a responsibility of not promoting the use of psychological as¬sessment techniques by unqualified examiners.
The freshness of results also is a factor. Psychologists refrain from basing their as¬sessment, intervention decisions, or recommendations on outdated test results and measures that are not useful for the current purpose.
Individuals offering assessment or scoring services to other professionals have the obligation to make sure their procedures are appropriate, valid, and reliable.
In explaining assessment results, psychologists must ensure that explanations are given by appropriate individuals or services.
The last standard holds the psychologist responsible for making reasonable efforts to maintain the integrity and security of tests and other assessment techniques con¬sistent with the law, contractual obligations, and the code of ethics.
ACA Code of Ethics
The American Counseling Association (ACA, 2005) has a code of ethics that has a spe¬cific section on Evaluation, Assessment, and Interpretation—Section E. This section be¬gins with a general introductory subsection describing (1) the crucial importance of assessments being reliable and vaild and (2) the counselor’s responsibilities to not mis¬use assessment information and to share with clients their assessment results, the coun¬selor’s interpretation of diose results, and how the assessment will be used to inform the counselor’s work -with the client Section E of the ACA Code of Ethics then goes on to discuss counselor competence to use and interpret assessment, informed consent, release of data to qualified professionals, the diagnosis of mental disorders, instrument selection, conditions of assessment administration, multicultural and diversity issues in assessment, scoring and interpretation of assessments, assessment security, obsolete as¬sessments and outdated results, and, finally, assessment construction.
Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing
One of the most comprehensive documents on ethics is the 1999 Standards for Edu¬cational and Psychological Testing. Three professional organizations took the lead in developing this position statement: the American Educational Research Association (AERA), the American Psychological Association (APA), and the National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME). This document, which we will refer to as the Standards represents the sixth in a series of publications that originated in 1954 to provide developers and users of tests with assistance in evaluating the technical ade¬quacy of their instruments for educational and psychological assessment. The intent of the Standards is to promote the sound and ethical use of tests and to provide crite¬ria for the evaluation of tests, testing practices, and the effects of test use.
The current revision of the Standards is organized into three parts. Additionally, it contains more extensive introductory text material than its predecessor. We recom¬mend that anyone who routinely engages in any form of testing—from test design and implementation to assessment and evaluation—obtain a copy of the Standards and be¬come familiar with the guidelines.
Test Construction, Evaluation, and Documentation. This section contains stan¬dards for validity; reliability and errors of measurement; test development and revision; scaling, norming, and score comparability; test administration, scoring, and reporting; and supporting documentation for tests. According to the Standards, “validity is the most fundamental consideration in developing and evaluating tests” (AERA et al., 1999, p. 9). As such, the Standards addresses the different types of validity evidence needed to support test use. In addition, standards on reliability and errors of measurement ad¬dress the issue of consistency of test scores. Although the Standards supports stan¬dardized procedures, it recognizes special situations that arise in which modifications of the procedures may be advisable or legally mandated; for example, “persons of dif¬ferent backgrounds, ages, or familiarity with testing may need nonstandard modes of test administration or a more comprehensive orientation to the testing process” (AERA et al., 1999, p. 61). Standards for the development and revision of formal, published in¬struments, an often overlooked area of importance, describe criteria important for scale construction.
Fairness in Testing. This section contains standards on fairness and bias, the rights and responsibilities of test takers, testing individuals of diverse linguistic back¬grounds, and testing individuals with disabilities. This section emphasizes the im¬portance of fairness in all aspects of testing and assessment. “The fair treatment of test takers is not only a matter of equity, but also promotes validity and reliability of the inferences made from the test performance” (AERA et al., 1999, p. 85). Special at¬tention to issues related to individuals of diverse linguistic backgrounds or with dis¬abilities may be needed when developing, administering, scoring, interpreting, and making decisions based on test scores.
Testing Applications. This final section includes standards involving general re¬sponsibilities of test users, psychological testing and assessment, educational testing and assessment, testing in employment and credentialing, and testing in program evaluation and public policy. In addition to emphasizing the ethical obligations of test users, the Standards addresses specific issues related to psychological, educational, em¬ployment, program evaluation, and other specific applications of test results.

National Council on Measurement in Education
The National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME; 1995) published its Code of Professional Responsibilities in Educational Measurement <CPR). The council developed the code to promote professionally responsible practices to educational assessment.
The CPR provides a framework of eight major areas of assessment standards that need to be addressed, including responsibilities of those who do the following:
1. Develop assessments
2. Market and sell assessments
3. Select assessments
4. Administer assessments
5. Score assessments
6. Interpret, use, and communicate assessment results
7. Educate about assessment
8. Evaluate programs and conduct research on assessments
Each section includes more specific standards. In Section 6, for example, those who interpret, use, and communicate assessment results are to provide all needed in¬formation about the assessment, its purposes, and its uses for the proper interpreta¬tion of the results; provide an understandable discussion of all reported scores, including proper interpretations; promote the use of multiple sources of information about persons or programs in making educational decisions; communicate the ade¬quacy and appropriateness of any norms or standards being used in the interpretation of assessment results and any likely misinterpretations; and protect the rights of pri¬vacy for individuals and institutions.
NCME and the American Association of School Administrators, the National As¬sociation of Elementary School Principals, and the National Association of Sec¬ondary School Principals (1994) have developed a set of standards for administrator training programs that utilize ethical standards as one criterion for determining com¬petency. Administrators are to demonstrate a working knowledge of the Compe¬tency Standards in Student Assessment for Educational Administrators. One key element in this fast standard is the ability to recognize unethical, illegal, and other¬wise inappropriate assessment methods and uses of assessment information. As with other standards, the administrator needs to understand and be able to apply the basic concepts of assessment and measurement theory; understand the purpose of different kinds of assessment (e.g., achievement, ability, and diagnostic); understand measurement terminology and be able to express that terminology in nontechnical terms; recognize appropriate and inappropriate uses of assessment techniques or re¬sults and understand and follow ethical guidelines for assessment; know die me¬chanics of constructing various types of assessment that are both appropriate and useful; interpret and use assessment information appropriately; know how interpre¬tations of assessments may be moderated by students’ socioeconomic, cultural, lin¬guistic, and other background factors; be able to evaluate an assessment strategy or program; and, finally, be able to utilize computer-based assessment tools that collect input, mediating, and outcome variables that are related to student learning, in¬struction, and performance.

Professional General Responsibilities Listed in NCME Code
1. Promote the health-a id safety of al examinees.
2. Be knowledgeable about and behave in compliance with state and federal laws relevant to the conduct of professional activities.
3. Maintain and improve their professional competence in educational assessment.
4. Provide assessment services only in areas of their competence and experience, affording full disclosure of their professional qualifications.
5. Promote the understanding of sound assessment practices in education.
6. Adhere to the highest standards of conduct within agencies that provide educational services.
7. Perform all professional responsibilities with honesty, integrity, due care, and fairness.

SOCIAL AND ETHICAL ISSUES
Currently, ethical issues receive widespread attention by helping professionals who use psychological and educational tests. There are a number of themes contained in all of the codes, for example, professional competence, test selection, test interpreta¬tion, test development, and so on.
Professional Training and Competence
One of the most important ethical issues is the competency of the professional in the use of available testing instruments. The professional must have the knowledge and understanding to select, administer, score and interpret the instrument. Different types of tests require different levels of competency. Some of the tests that require a high level of skill are the Wechsler scales, the Thematic Apperception Test, and the Rorschach.
The phrase test user qualifications refers to the combination of knowledge, skills, abilities, training, experience, and, where appropriate, credentials that are considered optimal for test use (APA, 2000). Many negative attitudes toward testing have resulted ” from certain abuses or misuses of testing. The professional standards of different as-: sodadons have set explicit guidelines for the qualifications of tests users. Those guide¬lines can be translated into competencies. Test users should be able to do the following tasks:
1. Understand basic measurement concepts such as scales of measurement, types of reliability, types of validity, and types of norms.
2. Understand the basic statistics of measurement and define, compute, and inter¬pret measures of central tendency, variability, and relationship.
3. Compute and apply measurement formulas such as the standard error of mea¬surement and the Spearman-Brown prophecy formula.
4. Read, evaluate, and understand test manuals and reports.
5. Follow exactly as specified the procedures for administering, scoring, and inter¬preting a test.
6. list and discuss major tests in their fields.
7. Identify and locate sources of test information in their fields.
8. Discuss as well as demonstrate the use of different systems of presenting test data in tabular and graphic forms.
9. Compare and contrast different types of test scores and discuss their strengths and weaknesses.
10. Explain the relative nature of norm-referenced interpretation and the use of the standard error of measurement in interpreting individual scores.
11. Help test takers and counselees to use tests as exploratory tools.
12. Aid test takers and counselees in their decision making and in their accomplish¬ment of developmental tasks.
13. Pace an interpretative session to enhance clients’ knowledge of test results.
14. Use strategies to prepare clients for testing to maximize the accuracy of test results.
15. Explain test results to test takers thoughtfully and accurately, and in a language they understand.
16. Use the communication skills needed in test interpretation and identify strategies for presenting the results to individuals, groups, parents, students, teachers, and professionals.
17. Shape clients’ reaction to and encourage appropriate use of the test information.
18. Be alert to the verbal and nonverbal cues expressed by clients, not only in the test¬ing situation but also during feedback situations.
19. Use appropriate strategies with clients who perceive the test results as negative.
20. Be familiar with the test interpretation forms and computerized report forms in order to guide clients through the information and explanation.
21. Be familiar with the legal, professional, and ethical guidelines related to testing.
22. Be aware of clients’ rights and the professional’s responsibilities as a test adminis¬trator and counselor.
23. List and discuss the current issues and trends in testing.
24. Present results from tests both verbally and in written form and know what types of information should be presented in case studies and conferences.
25. Discuss and utilize strategies to assist an individual in acquiring test-taking skills and in lowering test anxiety.
26. Identify and discuss computer-assisted and computer-adaptive testing and show application to their fields.
The 1954 Technical Recommendations/or Psychological Tests and Diagnostic Techniques and the 1966 Standards/or Educational and Psychological Tests and Manual both referred to a categorization of test user qualifications first approved by APA’s Council of Representatives in 1950. The policy was referred to as the “Ethical Standards for the Distribution of Psychological Tests and Diagnostic Aids”(APA, 1950) and included a three-level system for classifying test user qualifications. Although this three-level system was dropped from the 1974 (and subsequent) Standards without a replacement, most test publishers still use this system to determine test user qualifications (APA, 2000). The three local levels for classifying test user qual¬ifications include the following:
• A-level: Test users are not required to have advanced training in. assessment and interpretation to use instruments at the A-level (e.g., vocational proficiency tests). Test publishers will allow anyone to purchase A4evel tests.
• B-level: These instruments require more expertise on the part of the examiner than A-level tests. Typically, practitioners must have a master’s degree in psy¬chology, counseling, education or related area, or have completed specialized training or have expertise in a specific area of assessment in order to use B-level instruments. In addition, being a member of a professional organization such as the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) or the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) may make you eligible to purchase B-level products. Examples of B-level tests include general intelligence tests and interest inventories.
• C-level: C-level tests require verification of a doctorate in psychology, education, or a related field, or licensure. If you have certification by certain agencies or national organizations, such as ASHA or AOTA, you may be able to purchase C-level products based on your training or expertise. Examples include individu¬ally administered tests of intelligence, personality tests, and projective methods (e.g., Weschler IQ Tests, Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, the Rorschach).

Responsibilities of the Test Takers
The following are some guidelines and expectations of test takers:
1. Take tests that have high professional standards.
2. Be knowledgeable of your responsibilities as a test taker.
3. Be able to ask questions about areas about which you are uncertain.
4. Listen and/or read carefully about what you are being asked to do.
5. Know the location and schedule of the test you are to take.
6. Follow test instructions.
7. Report to the responsible persons if you felt that testing conditions affected your test performance.
8. Ask about how confidentiality will be handled.
Test Quality
A recurrent theme in the code of ethics is to ensure that tests meet the standards set by the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing (AERA ct al., 1999). Many tests, although published by leading, publishers and authorized by ex¬perienced test developers, have been put on the market with inadequate validity and reliability.

Client Welfare Issues
A major concern is whether the welfare of the client is taken into consideration in the choice and use of tests. Lack of confidentiality and invasion of privacy in testing are viewed as minor problems in the field of education, but are seen as a more serious prob¬lem in psychology. It is important for the counselor to have informed consent before testing the individual or releasing the results to a third party. Individuals have become suspicious about the possible “downloading” of information by unauthorized users.
Internet Testing
There are a number of problems associated with the application of psychological tests on the Internet (Butcher, Perry, 8-. Hahn, 2004). Issues include (a) whether tests ad¬ministered on the Internet are equivalent to paper-and-pencil test administration, (b) if psychological tests on the Internet have appropriate test norms, (c) assurances of Internet test validity, and (d) Internet test security.
Gender Bias
Many aptitude and interest tests have been viewed as gender biased. In fact, males tend to score higher than females in mathematics and science. Females have higher mean scores on verbal ability. However, there are no major differences in how males and fe¬males typically score on intelligence tests. Gender differences are also found on inter¬est measures, but the fairness of these tests, which compare individuals in different occupational fields, has been questioned.
Multicultural Differences
Section 9 of the Standards/or Educational and Psychological Testing (AERA et al., 1999) focuses on testing individuals of different linguistic backgrounds and includes 11 standards:
• 9.1 —Practices that may arise from language differences should be designed to reduce threats to the reliability and validity of the instrument (p. 97).
• 9.2—Test makers should collect validity and reliability data from the popula¬tion of test takers as a whole (p. 97).
• 9.3—If an examinee is proficient in more than one language, the test should be administered in the test taker’s most proficient language (p. 98).
• 9.4—The publisher should describe the test in detail in the test manual (p. 98).
• 9.5—The test maker should provide information for appropriate test use and interpretation when used with special populations (p. 98).
• 9.6—The translation from one language to another should provide the meth¬ods used and logical evidence of test score reliability and validity (p. 99).
• 9.7—No flags are attracted if there is evidence of the score compatibility across regular modified tests or administrations (p. 99).
• 9.8—Test developers should report evidence of test comparability (p. 99).
• 9.9—If an examinee is proficient in more than one language, there are other standards relating to the use of an interpreter and the scope of skills to be mea¬sured on a language proficiency test (p. 99).
• 9.10—Language proficiency of the individual being tested should be based upon a number of linguistic skills, not just one.
• 9.11—Theinterpretershouldbefluentinbothlanguagesofabilingualtesttaker.
Responsible Test Use
In each of the following situations, read the scenario and decide which ethical stan¬dards are in question.
1. The Browns decide to start a computerized dating service and mail to the clients the NEO Personality Inventory. They score the tests and match clients on the ba¬sis of their personality types, using the premise that opposites attract when they match the profiles. The clients are sent a profile sheet of their test results.
2. Jan came to the United States last year from Poland and has been staying with his relatives in New York. He was hit by a taxi while crossing a street and received a concussion and other possible head injuries. His lawyer requested a psychologi¬cal evaluation. Although Jan is not fluent in English, the examiner administered the Lauria-Nebraska Neuropsychological Battery.
3. Robin learns that the CDC company uses the 16 Personality Factor Questionnaire for screening customer representatives and decides to get a copy of the test and manual to study before applying for a position with CDC. When Robin calls the company, she finds out that she has to complete a form to be registered with the company to get the materials. She knows that she does not have the qualifications for the job, so she asks one of her professors to order the materials for her. The professor docs so. Robin studies the test and scoring keys and decides how she will answer the test questions to make herself look like the right type of person for the job
4. A psychology professor has convinced the student services committee to give al new first-year students the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory. During orientation week, all new students were administered the test but not told its pm pose, only that they would be required to take a wide variety of types of tests in eluding achievement, aptitude, interest, and personality. The professor had soon student assistants score the tests. He found that he had no time to review the re suits, so he simply had the test information filed in students’ cumulative folders.

LEGAL ASPECTS
Counselors need to keep up to date not only on current legislation that affects their practice but also with the decisions made in the courts. A number of major pieces legislation have had implications for testing practices and procedures. Legal right come from the Constitution of the United States, state constitutions, federal and stat laws, and also from interpretations by the courts. This section briefly discusses some of the relevant federal legislation, followed by some important court cases brought by individuals or groups who believed they had been banned by testing practices.
Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (Buckley Amendment)
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 protects parents’ right to ex¬amine their children’s academic records and stipulate the terms under which others may have access to them. If there is test information in the records, parents have a right to see these scores as well.
Public Law 94-142: Education of All Handicapped Children Act
Public Law 94-142, renamed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, was passed by Congress and signed into law on November 25,1975. The legislation was an effort to reduce the disparities in educational opportunities between children with and without exceptionalities. The law directs educators to develop extensive identifi¬cation procedures, provide special education in the least restrictive environment, en¬sure nondiscriminatory testing and evaluation, and form individualized programs for each child with an exceptionality. The law was passed to ensure that all children have access to an appropriate education and related services to meet their unique needs, to ensure protection of their rights, and to assist schools in providing that education.
The law requires that parents give their consent before a child is tested. Parents must be fully informed of all information relevant to the activity for which consent is sought in their native language or other mode of communication. Parents must be fully informed about a particular test to be given and agree in writing to the procedure, and have the right to inspect the test protocols. Parents are entitled to inspect and review the educational records of their children related to identification, evaluation, and placement.
Tests and other evaluation materials must be in the child’s native language or other mode of communication, unless it is clearly not feasible to do so. Each test must have been validated for die specific purpose for which it is used. Tests have to be ad¬ministered by trained personnel in conformance with instructions provided by test au¬thors and publishers. For children with disabilities, tests must be chosen and administered to ensure that they will accurately reflect aptitude and achievement lev¬els. Proper philosophy and practice calls for multiple criteria in determining appro¬priate placement. Evaluation must be done by a multidisciplinary team including at least one teacher or other specialist with knowledge of the area of disability. The child is assessed in all areas related to the suspected disability.
Public Law 98-524: The Vocational Education Act of 1984
Public Law 98-524, often referred to as the Carl D. Perkins Act, was passed by Congress and signed into law on October 19,1984.K was designed to ensure that individuals who are inadequately served under vocational education programs—especially individuals who are disadvantaged or with physical disabilities, men and women entering non-traditional occupations, adults in need of training and retraining, single parents or homemakers, individuals with limited English proficiency, and individuals incarcer¬ated in correctional institutions—receive proper services. The law extends the provi¬sions of the Vocational Education Act of 1963 by mandating vocational assessment, counseling, support, and transitional services for students identified as being disabled and disadvantaged. “Disadvantaged” was limited to economic and academic, rather than cultural, factors. It was reauthorized as the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education Act of 1990 (Public Law 101-392).
Public Law 99-457: Amendment to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1975
Public Law 99-457 is an amendment to Public Law 94-142, the Individuals with Dis¬abilities Education Act, that extends the right to a free and appropriate education to all children age 3 and above. The law allows states to develop early intervention ser¬vices for children with developmental delays. Each family involved in the program must have an individualized family service plan (IFSP).
Public Law 101-476: Education of the Handicapped Act of 1990
Public Law 101-476, the Education of the Handicapped Act Amendments of 1990,was signed into law on October 30,1990, and was later renamed the Individuals with Dis¬abilities Education Act (IDEA). This public law replaced the word “handicapped” with the word “disabled” and expanded services for these students. IDEA reaffirms PL 94-142′s requirements of a free, appropriate public education through an individual¬ized education program (IEP) with related services and due process procedures. The act focuses on helping youth with disabilities in the transition from school to voca¬tional rehabilitation, employment, postsecondary education, work, or adult services. Parents have access to all relevant records concerning the identification, evaluation, and educational placement of the child. Parents also have the opportunity to obtain their own independent educational evaluation of the child.
Public Law 101-336: Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
Public Law 101-336, or the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), was passed by Con¬gress and signed into law on July 26,1990. The law broadly expands the civil rights laws that apply to women and minorities to more than 43 million Americans who have some form of disability. The law has certain provisions related to testing. Under the reasonable accommodations section it states:
A private entity offering an examination is responsible for selecting and administering the examination in a place and manner that ensures that the examination accurately reflects an individual’s aptitude and achievement level, or other factors Ac examination purports to measure, rather than reflecting an individual’s impaired sensory, manual, or speaking skills, except where those skills are factors that the examination purports to measure.
The test must assess an essential requirement of the job. The test would be invalid if the particular disability would adversely affect test performance on an employment test Accommodating individuals with disabilities is not necessarily a simple process. Fischer (1994) points out that to comply with ADA, individually modified forms of the standard instrument must be prepared to accommodate an examinee with a disability. Although the ADA requires reasonable accommodation, the code of ethics and stan¬dards for testing requires a much higher standard if the resulting test scores are to be meaningful (Fischer, 1994, p. 23).
Public Law 107-110: No Child Left Behind Act of 2001
No Child Left Behind (NCLB) contained the most sweeping changes to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) since it was enacted in 1965. It changed the fed¬eral government’s role in K-12 education by requiring America’s schools to describe their success in terms of what each student accomplishes. The act contained four ba¬sic education reform principles: stronger accountability, increased flexibility and local control, expanded options for parents, and an emphasis on teaching methods that have been proven to work. NCLB significantly raises expectations for states, local school systems, and individual schools in that all students are expected to meet or ex¬ceed state standards in reading and mathematics within 12 years. NCLB requires all states to establish state academic standards and a state testing system that meet fed¬eral requirements.
As a result of NCLB, states have created policies to reward schools that score well on high-stakes tests. Merit-based awards, clear accountability and public visibility, and financial incentives for educators are purported benefits of high-stakes tests. Yet, many criticize the use of these tests ia education (discussed in Chapter 16).
EMPLOYMENT LAWS
Title VII of the Civic Rights Act of 1964, as amended in 1972,1978, and 1991,outlaws discrimination in employment based on race, color, religion, gender, pregnancy, or na¬tional origin. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 outlaws discrimi¬nation against those who are 40 and above. The Equal Pay Act of 1967 outlaws discrimination in pay based on the gender of the worker, and the Vietnam Era Veter¬ans Readjustment Act of 1974 outlaws discrimination against Vietnam-era veterans.
The Tower Amendment to the Equal Employment Act (1966) provides that an employer may give and act upon the results of any professionally developed ability test provided that such test is not designed, intended, or used to discriminate because of race. “Professionally developed ability test” is defined as a test that fairly measures the knowledge or skills required by the particular job or class of jobs sought by the ap¬plicant or that fairly affords the employer a chance to measure the applicant’s ability to perform a particular job or class of jobs (Equal Employment Opportunity Commis¬sion [EEOC], 1966).
As noted, the amended Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlaws discrimination in em¬ployment based on race, gender, religion, and national origin. In 1970 the EEOC rede¬fined discrimination in terms ot’ the effects of selection procedures resulting in adverse impact. Any paper-and-pencil or performance measure—including all formal, scored, qualified, or standardized techniques—used as a basis for an employment de¬cision that adversely affects hiring, promotion, transfer, or any other employment or membership opportunity of classes protected by Title VII constitutes discrimination unless the test has been validated and evidences a high degree of utility and the per¬son giving or acting on the results can demonstrate that alternative suitable hiring, transfer, or promotion procedures are unavailable.
The Civil Rights Act of 1991 prohibits score adjustment or differential test cutoffs by race. Congress viewed score adjustment as violating the principle of fairness.
COURT DECISIONS ON EDUCATIONAL TESTING
The following are a few of the major court decisions on the use of testing in education:
• Larry P. v. Riles (1974, 1979, 1984) involved as plaintiffs Black elementary school students from the San Francisco United school district who claimed that they had been improperly placed in classes for the educable mentally re¬tarded (EMR). The placement had been made on the basis of their scores on an intelligence test that they claimed was inappropriate for use with Black students. The district EMR students were 28.5% White and 66% Black. The court concluded that the schools had been using an inappropriate test for the placement of Blacks in EMR programs and that the test could not be used. In the future, the school would have to submit a written statement declaring that tests were not discriminatory and had been validated for EMR placement decisions, and provide the statistics on the scores of both White and Black students.
• Diana v. California State Board of Education (1973,1979) concerned the ap¬propriate use of intelligence tests with Mexican American students. These students tended to score poorly and were placed in EMR classes. The out of court agreement required the schools to test students both in their first language and in English and restricted the administration of many of the verbal sections of the tests.
• Debra P. v. Turlington (1979,1981,1983,1984) questioned the fairness of the Florida State Student Assessment Test. The plaintiffs, 10 African American stu¬dents, argued that they had been denied due process because they had not been given adequate time to prepare for the test and that the test was used to segregate students by race. The court found the test was not discriminatory. The court concluded that it was the responsibility of the school system when using a test for granting high school diplomas to show that the test covers only material that was actually taught to the students.
• Sbarif v. New York State Educational Department (1989) concerned the use of Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores as the sole basis for awarding state merit scholarships. The plaintiffs claimed that the state was discriminating against girls who were competing for the award. The court ruled that New York could not use the SAT scores alone as a basis for awarding scholarships and needed to have other criteria such as grades or statewide achievement test data.
COURT DECISIONS ON EMPLOYMENT TESTING
Following are some of the major court decisions related to tests and testing practices:
• United States v. Georgia Power (1973) first acknowledged the possibility of the unreliability of differential validity.
• Griggs v. Duke Power Company (1971) decided that Duke Power violated Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act by requiring a high school diploma and two written tests of applicants for jobs as laborers. The U.S. Supreme Court held that Duke’s standardized testing requirement prevented a dispropor¬tionate number of African American employees from being hired by, and ad¬vancing to higher-paying departments within, the company. “Business necessity” was the basis for assessing the legality of such work standards, and in this case, diplomas and cognitive ability were not necessary to do the work required by the positions. The court, however, did not specifically define “business necessity.”
• Washington v. Davis (1976) accepted a selection rule with an adverse impact because the test predicted final marks in police training and was a logical cri¬terion measure.
• Bekke v. California (1978) struck down the quota system for minority groups in professional schools.
• Golden Rule Insurance Company v. Richard L Mathias (1980) focused on the out-of-court agreement between the Educational Testing Service (ETS) and the Golden Rule Insurance Company. The plaintiffs claimed that the test developed by ETS used to license insurance agents was not job related and unfairly dis¬criminated against Blacks.
• Contreras v. City of Los Angeles (1981) held that the employer’s burden is sat¬isfied by showing it used professionally acceptable methods and that the test was predictive or significantly correlated with important elements of work be¬havior that comprised or were relevant to the job.
• Berkman v. City of New York (1987) struck down an arbitrary conversion process to enhance scores for female firefighter applicants even though the un¬derlying tests did not predict job performance.
• Watson v. Fort Worth Bank and Trust (1988) ruled that adverse impact does not apply to subjective criteria. The plaintiff must identify a specific criterion as producing an adverse impact and show reliable and probative statistical ev¬idence to support an inference of discrimination. The employer needs only to offer a legitimate business reason for the criterion. Employers are not required, even when defending standardized tests, to introduce formal validation studies showing that particular criteria predict actual on-the-job performance.
Ward Cover Packing Co. v. Antonio (1989) reversed the impact of Griggs v. Duke Power (1971). A much more conservative Supreme Court agreed that, yes, employment tests must be substantially job-related, but that employers could require tests that went beyond what was essential for the job as part of “business necessity.” In partial response to this decision, the Civil Rights Act of 1991 was passed and restored the definition of “business necessity” to what it had been and did not permit it to mean more than it had in the past. The term is still unclear; does “business necessity” mean the minimum necessary to do the job, or does it mean employers may require somewhat more than that, or does it mean the employer may test to find the best that the employer can get?
QUESTIONS AND PROCEDURES
Cronbach (1994) identified three crucial questions that need to be considered in us¬ing tests in employment contexts:
1. Can an adverse impact be shown such as a greater rejection rate for eligible Blacks than for eligible Whites?
2. Is the selection rule valid? Was it used as the basis of selection for the job? Are the criterion, content, and construct validity ratings available?
3. Can an alternative selection procedure be used that has less impact?
The Golden Rule Procedure, named for the court case described earlier, calls for simple but specifically prescribed procedures for item analysis and item selection, as well as monitoring the results of the testing program for minority groups. Ethnic and racial data are collected on the candidates who take a test, and analysis of the test items is completed separately by race or ethnic group and educational level. The per¬centage of each group passing the items is used to classify the test items. Items for which the correct-answer rates of ethnic or minority groups and White examinees are most similar have priority for inclusion on the test. The procedure calls for on¬going analysis of the test items and emphasizes keeping the reading level no higher than grade 12 ability.
CURRENT TRENDS AND PERSPECTIVES
Employers, are showing increased sensitivity in how they use tests for hiring pur¬poses; they do not want to be charged with discrimination and unfair practices. Be¬cause employers must go through elaborate validation and documentation, procedures when they use tests for selection purposes, the use of tests for employ¬ment purposes has declined. However, the use of tests for certification and licensing purposes has increased. Tenopyr (1981) concludes that employment testing has been surrounded by a storm of controversy because of its association with the civil rights movement. She points out that there are problems with fairness models because employers cannot afford to use dif¬ferent tests for various subgroups or interpret tests differently for each group.
Counselors should be alert to legal and ethical standards at all times. Figure 7.1 presents a legal/ethical checklist.
I have the educational and experiential background to administer the tests I have selected to use. The tests are valid for the purposes I identified. I have sufficient information about examinees’ cultural, linguistic, social, and educational backgrounds. I have received informed consent from clients if of age. I have received informed consent from minors’ parents or guardians. I have discussed the reasons for the test with clients. The clients see the value of the testing. I have explained the limitations of the tests to be given. I have discussed how the test results will be used. I have discussed how the data will be stored and who will have access to the data. I will promise to seek written approval to share confidential information. I will provide feedback in language that each client can understand.
Figure 7.1
SUMMARY
For the past three decades, employment and school testing have been the focus of con¬troversy. Laws and court decisions have had an impact on testing practice. The overall effect has been fairer tests and testing practices for minority groups. The role of tests is constantly being redefined by the courts. Helping professionals need to be guided by the code of ethics of their organization, be familiar with the laws and court inter¬pretations, and be careful, critical consumers of assessment practices and procedures.
Codes of ethics and standards of practice are essential elements of fair testing. There are similarities among the codes. Some of the common principles are compe¬tence, integrity, treating clients with respect and dignity, accepting responsibility, and concern for the welfare of others.
Those involved in testing need to have competency in administering the test selected, provide an explanation for using the test, and discuss the test results in a language test takers can understand. They must get informed consent prior to administering the test. Counselors need to be familiar with techniques and procedures that are appropriate for use with clients from other ethnic and cultural groups. Coun¬selors also need to be aware of and respect the beliefs, attitudes, knowledge, and skills of all clients they work with. This requires counselors to understand their own as¬sumptions, biases, and values.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1. Many employment test experts believe that the guidelines from the courts and legislature are outdated and make costly demands on employers that are not jus¬tified by the latest research. Do you agree or disagree with this position? Why?
2. Do you think that equity for minority group members can be obtained through item selection by test makers following the Golden Rule Procedure? Is the pro¬cedure a threat to the validity of the test? Why or why not?
3. Are codes of ethics something every group advocates but few members follow?
4. What position would you take if your code of professional ethics conflicted with a recent court ruling?
5. Do you feel ethical behavior is more situation-specific than a general trait? Explain.
SUGGESTED ACTIVITIES
1. Make a content analysis of two or three of the codes of ethics as they relate to test¬ing. How are they alike? How are they different?
2. Stage a mock trial on one of the major issues in testing such as due process, ap¬propriateness of certain tests for a particular function, misuse of tests, appropri¬ateness of a certain test for a minority group member, and the like.
3. Discuss some of the cases presented in the section on responsible test use.
4. Research to see if any cases in your local court system have involved testing issues.
5. Study the following cases and answer the questions at the end of each.
A private liberal arts college was working toward getting regional accreditation. The school had usually admitted a large percentage of students from the bottom half of their high school class, including any student who had a 2.0 grade point average (GPA) on a 4.0 scale. The college did not require the SAT or ACT. The admissions committee was under pressure to increase the academic respectability of the college by changing the standards to require scores of 400 on both the verbal and quantitative sections of the SAT. The committee was told that enrollment would increase if the school used an established assessment test and that fewer students would drop cut.
a. What are the testing issues in the situation?
b. What factors or testing practices are involved?
c. If you were a consultant invited by the college to help the admissions committee in the selection and retention of students, what would you advise?
To remain competitive, Memorial Hospital has decided it needs to cut its budget by down¬sizing semiskilled workers such as orderlies, custodians, cafeteria personnel, stockroom clerks, fileroom clerks, and so on. The hospital would like to help these workers qualify for higher-level jobs so that they can remain with the organization. From the attrition rate, the hospital administrators know they will need workers with advanced technical skills and will have to recruit from me outside to fill these positions if they have no one qualified internally. The personnel department has decided to give all the targeted workers who will lose their positions the Wide Range Achievement Test and the. Wonderlic Personnel Test and select those with the highest scores to be retrained. Of the workers, 80% are women and minority group members.
a. What are the ethical and legal issues related to this case?
b. What testing factors are involved?
c. If you were a consultant hired by the hospital to help identify workers to be retrained and do outplacement counseling for those who are to be let go, what would you ad¬vise Memorial to do?

ADDITIONAL READINGS

American Psychological Association.(l99y).Responsible test use; Case studies for assessing hu¬man behavior. Washington, DC: Test User Training Work Group of the Joint Committee on Testing Practices.
Contains 78 cases to train professionals to use tests wisely. Cases arc from seven different settings, ranging from counseling to speech-language-hearing contexts, and cover 86 ele-ment5 of proper test use.
American Psychological Association. (2001). Sights and responsibilities of test takers: Guide¬lines. Washington, DC: Author.
Topics related to test construction, test selection, test administration, and test administra¬tion are illustrated.
American Psychological Association. (2002). Ethics code. Available at bttpy/uww.apa.ofg/ethics/.

Bond, T. (2000). Standards and ethics far counselling in action (2nded.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Part 2 of the book covers topics related to the client such as counseling competency and avoiding exploitation of clients.

Cronbach, L J. (1994). Essentials for psychological testing (3rd ed.). New Yolfc Harper & Row.

National Board for Certified Counselors. (1998). NBCCcode of ethics. (Approved 1997). Greens¬boro, NC: Author:

National Council on Measurement in Education. (1995). Code of professional responsibilities in educational measurement Washington, DC: Author.

Paniagua, f. A. (1998). Assessing and treating culturally diverse clients (2nd cd.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Contains chapters on guidelines for and treatment of African Americans.Hispanics, Asians, and American Indians. There is a chapter on using culturally biased instruments.

Remiey, T. P., & Heriihy, B. (2005).Ethical, legal, and professional issues in counseling (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill/Prentice Hall.

Sue, D. W (Ed.). (1998). Multicultural counseling competencies. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Addresses topics such as multicultural evaluation and multicultural counseling.

Counselor educators and counseling researchers have historically devoted a great deal of attention to empathy in counseling (Bowman & Reeves, 1987; Duan & Hill, 1996; Gladstein, 1977). From most counseling theoretical perspectives, empathy is seen as a fundamental part of the counseling process (Carlozzi, Bull, Eells, & Hurlburt, 1995; Hartley, 1995; Ivey, Ivey, & Simek-Morgan, 1993). However, research on empathy has decreased over the last several years. Duan and Hill argued for a renewal of research on empathy. They illuminated the theoretical salience of empathy and the lack of empirical evidence. In particular, Duan and Hill called for increased study of (a) the cognitive and emotional dimensions of empathy, (b) variables that influence empathy, (c) the experience and communication of empathy by counselors, (d) the interaction of counselor and client emotions, and (e) empathy in the context of cultural diversity. The present study focused on the first two of these suggestions.
The purpose of the present study was to investigate the influences of adult attachment on emotional empathy in master’s-level counseling students. Through structural equation modeling, a measurement and structural model of the effects of attachment on empathy was developed. Gender was an exogenous variable in the structural model. Because attachment theory focuses firmly on emotional processes (Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, & Wall, 1978), the present study focused on the emotional dimension of empathy. The research question was the following: How well does the adult attachment–emotional empathy model fit the data for master’s-level counseling students?
Literature Review
Empathy
Duan and Hill (1996), in a review of literature, described various conceptualizations of the empathy construct. Researchers have conceptualized and defined empathy in terms of cognitive and affective mechanisms, resulting in three common conceptualizations: (a) as a cognitive or intellectual process, (b) as an affective or emotional process, and (c) as a process involving both cognitive and affective phenomena. Both Duan and Hill and Gladstein (1977) described cognitive empathy as the ability to intellectually assume the perspective of another person. The authors characterized emotional empathy as an emotional response to another person’s emotion (feeling another person’s feeling). According to Gladstein (1977), Rogers’s (1957, 1975) conceptualization of empathy involves both intellectual and emotional components. Duan and Hill recognized the emotional aspects of Rogers’s conceptualization but characterized it more in terms of intellectual empathy. Empathy has also been conceptualized and studied as (a) a personality trait (e.g., Davis, 1983; Mehrabian & Epstein, 1972), (b) a state (e.g., Baston, Fultz, & Schoenrade, 1987), and (c) an experiential process (Rogers, 1975). Rogers initially described empathy as a cognitive-affective state (Rogers, 1957), then later as a cognitive-affective process (Rogers, 1975).
There have been many studies of emotional empathy, but the number of recent studies using samples of counseling students is relatively small. However, there is evidence that emotional empathy is related to counseling skill and other variables indicative of effective counseling. Ridgway and Sharpley (1990) examined the relationships of several measures to three outcome variables: counseling skill, counselor behavior, and client satisfaction. Participants were counseling students who were beginning their counseling-skills training. The independent variables included measures of intellectual (cognitive) empathy, emotional empathy, and communicative (nonverbal) empathy. Emotional empathy was the only empathy variable that was significantly related to the outcome variables. In addition, the relationships of emotional empathy to other dimensions of empathy were very weak. From a review of literature on empathy, Gladstein (1983) concluded that emotional empathy is most important in the initial stages of counseling and important in helping clients increase their self-awareness. Researchers have found a positive association of emotional empathy with helping behavior (Baston et al., 1987; Krebs, 1975), with the counselor–client working alliance (Grace, Kivlighan, & Knuce, 1995), and with creativity (Carlozzi et al., 1995). Carlozzi et al. reported a negative relationship between emotional empathy and dogmatism. Authors (Duan & Hill, 1996; Gladstein, 1983; Jackson, 1984) generally agree that emotional empathy is an initial and necessary step in the helping process. However, emotional empathy does not necessarily lead to helping behavior.
Attachment Theory
John Bowlby provided the theoretical framework and Mary Ainsworth provided the empirical support that resulted in attachment theory (Bretherton, 1992; Lopez, 1995). Working separately and together, Bowlby and Ainsworth produced a theory of human development based on the pervasive and enduring effects of parent–child emotional bonds. These early attachments form perceptual schemata, termed internal working models of self and others (Ainsworth & Bowlby, 1991; Bretherton, 1992). Early studies of infants revealed three basic patterns of attachment. Children with secure attachment patterns experienced effective, consistent caregiving and formed internal working models of self as worthy and others as responsive and supportive. Children with anxious-ambivalent attachment patterns experienced caregivers as variably helpful and formed internal working models of self as uncertain and others as helpful but inconsistent. Children with avoidant attachment patterns experienced caregivers as unresponsive to their needs and developed internal working models of self as unwanted and others as rejecting (Ainsworth et al., 1978; Lopez, 1995).
A major premise of attachment theory is that early attachment patterns influence individuals’ development across the life span (Bartholomew & Horowitz, 1991; Bretherton, 1992). Bartholomew (Bartholomew & Horowitz, 1991; Bartholomew & Shaver, 1998) proposed a four-category structure of adult attachment. These four categories are now common in the attachment literature and are an extension of the three types for children. The two dichotomous (low and high) dimensions of avoidance and anxiety form the four categories. The four categories or quadrants have analogous conceptualizations and names based on individuals’ working models of self and others. Negative models of self are associated with anxiety, dependency, and preoccupation with relationships, and negative models of others reflect avoidance of close relationships. Individuals who are low in anxiety and low in avoidance fall into the secure quadrant (positive models of self and positive models of others). Those who are high in anxiety and low in avoidance form the preoccupied quadrant (negative models of self and positive models of others). Individuals low in anxiety and high in avoidance fall into the dismissing category (positive models of self and negative models of others). Those high in both avoidance and anxiety form the fearful quadrant (negative models of self and others; Bartholomew & Shaver, 1998). Although not typically described as such, this categorical structure reflects an Anxiety ´ Avoidance interaction. That is, the combination of the two variables, interpreted dichotomously, results in the four types or quadrants. Attachment theory posits no causal relationship or sequence between avoidance and anxiety, but an interrelationship between avoidance and anxiety is inherent.
Fraley and Waller (1998) compared the psychometric usefulness of the four types with the continuous, quantitative dimensions of avoidance and anxiety. Results from their thorough study strongly suggest that the quantitative dimensions—at a latent level—afford more reliable and valid measurement and more statistical power than the categorical form of the variables. Results of Fraley and Waller are consistent with the large-scale factor analyses of Brennan, Clark, and Shaver (1998), who verified that two latent variables, avoidance and anxiety, underlie common contemporary measures of adult attachment. Post hoc results of Brennan et al. also support the precision of the two continuous dimensions over the four categories of Bartholomew and Horowitz (1991). Therefore, current knowledge suggests that researchers should use continuous, quantitative indicators of the latent attachment variables avoidance and anxiety.
Adult Attachment and Empathy
There has been little research on adult attachment in counselors or on how counselors’ attachment styles affect counseling processes or counselor training (Lopez & Brennan, 2000). However, some authors have suggested a relationship between attachment and empathy and between adult attachment and counseling skill. Attachment theory and empathy research do cover common ground (see Lopez, 1995; Lopez & Brennan, 2000). Both Bowlby and Ainsworth stressed the point that attachments have a strong influence on the full range of human emotions (Ainsworth et al., 1978).
Barnett (1987) provided evidence that affection and responsiveness provided by early caregivers is related to the development of capacity for empathy in children and adolescents. Mothers’ responsiveness seems to be particularly influential on children. Therefore, it appears that individuals with secure attachments to parents are less preoccupied with their own needs and are more responsive to the needs of others. Barnett, however, noted that research in this area is sparse and inconclusive.
In theoretical works, Pistole (Pistole, 1989, 1999; Pistole & Watkins, 1995) used the concept of caregiving from attachment theory as a metaphor for the counseling relationship and the counseling process. For the client, the bond to the counselor is conceptualized as attachment, and for the counselor, the bond is caregiving. Counselors, as caregivers, are emotionally and psychologically accessible to clients and responsive to clients’ needs. Through this attachment coconstruction of the counselor and client, vulnerable clients are provided a secure environment. Consistent with attachment theory, Pistole (1999) identified empathy as an integral part of caregiving. Pistole also synthesized research and theory to describe caregiving in terms of adult attachment styles. According to Pistole (Pistole, 1999; Pistole & Watkins, 1995), people with secure attachment styles have the greatest potential to provide high levels of caregiving. Their positive models of self and others promote a supportive atmosphere of trust and intimacy. People with preoccupied (anxious) attachment styles (negative models of self and positive models of others) are likely to be overly focused on themselves and on negative emotions. Thus, their caregiving is inconsistent and sensitivity to others is low. People with a dismissing-avoidant style (positive models of self and negative models of others) are defensive and interpersonally distant. People with a fearful-avoidant style (negative models of self and others) also use distancing strategies and devote little attention to affect.
Based on these caregiving characteristics, it is expected that counselor trainees with secure attachment styles would have the highest levels of caregiving and emotional empathy. The preoccupied trainee is likely to be hypersensitive to negative emotions, yet fearful of being emotionally overwhelmed, and therefore is expected to be inconsistently sensitive and empathic. Counselor trainees who exhibit either of the avoidant styles use distancing strategies and therefore are expected to be lowest in emotional empathy. In short, consistent with Pistole’s (1999) propositions and the tenets of attachment theory, avoidance and anxiety should both have negative effects on emotional empathy, and the negative effect for avoidance should be stronger. Pistole (1999) characterized these propositions as speculative and pointed out the need for research in this area.
Although Pistole’s (Pistole, 1999; Pistole & Watkins, 1995) applications are consistent with attachment theory, some research (Bartholomew & Horowitz, 1991; Dunkle & Friedlander, 1996; Searle & Meara, 1999) challenges these propositions regarding the preoccupied attachment style. Bartholomew and Horowitz reported that college students who were classified in the preoccupied style were high in sociability, as reported by self and friends; and although preoccupied-style participants reported more interpersonal distress, they seemed highly capable of intimate interpersonal relationships. These results imply that anxiety may not be negatively related to emotional empathy. Research by Dunkle and Friedlander (1996) provided some support for this notion. They found nonsignificant relationships between anxiety and the counselor–client bond. Dunkle and Friedlander did find that counselors who were higher in avoidance were significantly lower in the counselor–client bond. Research by Searle and Meara (1999), using a general college student sample (not counselor trainees), suggested that individuals with preoccupied attachment styles may be more intensely focused on emotions than are individuals classified as having secure attachment styles. Therefore, research is inconsistent regarding the relationship of anxiety to empathy and inconsistent regarding the relative emotional empathy levels of preoccupied-style individuals versus secure-style individuals. Research is consistent regarding the negative influence of avoidance on emotional empathy.
Other related studies also challenge the premise that secure attachment style is associated with higher levels of counseling skill. Wilcoxon, Walker, and Hovestadt (1989) investigated the relationship between perceived early family experiences and facilitative interpersonal functioning of master’s-level counseling students. Their results suggested that the lower the perceived autonomy and intimacy in the early childhood family experiences of novice counselors, the higher their interpersonal-facilitation skill level. The findings of Watts, Trusty, Canada, and Harvill (1995) are similar. Watts et al. investigated the relationship between perceived early family influence and counselor effectiveness in master’s-level practicum students. Their results indicated that counselor trainees who were rated more effective tended to perceive their parents’ relationship and parent–child interactions more negatively than did less effective counselor trainees.
Although adult attachment and empathy were not measured directly in these two studies, results do suggest that the secure attachment style may not be optimal for effective counseling and emotional empathy. These two studies support the concept of the wounded healer. Although the wounded healer concept does not address adult attachment theory directly, it is consistent with attachment theory with regard to avoidance, suggesting that avoidance of wounds is detrimental for effective counseling. For example, Miller and Baldwin (1987, 2000) noted that effective counselors are not inclined to deny or distort their own wounds and tend to have high levels of integrated awareness; that is, they have integrated wounds from their past. Cushway (1996), in writing on the wounded healer concept, noted that personal distress can help counselors become more sensitive and empathic. In contrast to attachment theory, the wounded healer concept therefore suggests that anxiety may have a positive influence on counselor effectiveness. Perhaps increased perceptiveness of self and preoccupation with self and wounds (anxiety) are associated with enhanced helping behavior. Also, inconsistent with attachment theory, the wounded healer perspective suggests that effective counselors, when they were children, were likely to have been caregivers themselves, providing support and strength for family members (including parents) in stressful family circumstances (Cushway, 1996; Wolgien & Coady, 1997).
Literature Summary
In summary, emotional empathy is an important attribute for counselor trainees. According to attachment theory, adult attachment patterns—or internal working models of self and others—relate strongly to interpersonal emotional functioning. The attachment theory concept of caregiving has been applied to counselors, suggesting that avoidance and anxiety are negatively related to caregiving and empathy. Whereas research is consistent regarding the negative effects of avoidance on emotional empathy, research has not delineated a clear relationship between attachment anxiety and empathy. Through the present study, we sought to build a model of the effects of adult attachment on emotional empathy for counselor trainees.
Method
Participants
Participants were 143 master’s-degree students from one comparatively large counseling program in a university in the southwestern U.S. that was accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP). Data were collected when students were enrolled in their first counseling skills course. In this particular program, this counseling skills course has three prerequisite courses, namely, an introduction to counseling course, a counseling theories course, and a group counseling course. Data were gathered across four consecutive semesters, spring, summer, fall, and spring.
Of the 143 participants, 120 were women and 23 were men. With regard to ethnicity, 25 described themselves as African American, 8 as Hispanic, 1 as Asian, and 108 as White; 1 participant did not provide ethnicity data. Ages ranged from 22 to 56, with an average of just over 35 and a median of 33. With regard to program emphasis, 105 were in the school counseling program, 34 in the community counseling program, and 4 were in the student affairs track.
Instruments
Emotional empathy. We used the Mehrabian and Epstein (1972) measure of emotional empathy to quantify the emotional empathy construct. Conceptually, this is a measure of the emotional empathy trait. The instrument is a self-report measure designed to quantify emotional responses arising from perceptions of the emotional experiences of others. The instrument does not measure, as do some empathy instruments, intellectual empathy or the prediction of others’ feelings, thinking, and behavior.
In developing the empathy measure, Mehrabian and Epstein (1972) were concerned about the potentially confounding effects of social desirability. Therefore, they evaluated each item for social desirability by correlating item scores with scores on the Crowne and Marlowe (1960) social desirability scale. Items that had both low correlations with social desirability and high factor loadings from factor analyses were retained. The resulting scores on the empathy scale had a very weak correlation with scores on the social desirability scale, r = .06.
The measure of emotional empathy comprises 33 Likert-type items. Scores for items range from –4 (very strong disagreement with the statement) to +4 (very strong agreement). Items are stated in alternating directions. Most of the items are stated in first person, and they describe responses to the emotions of others. The items are published in Mehrabian and Epstein’s (1972) study.
To support the validity of the emotional empathy measure, Mehrabian and Epstein (1972) found that participants with high levels of emotional empathy were less likely to exhibit aggressive behavior and more likely to engage in helping behavior. The effects of empathy on actual helping behavior (helping another person) were independent of the effects of perceived similarity to the other person and how much participants liked the other person. Therefore, higher scores on emotional empathy do appear to indicate a higher level of responsiveness to the emotional experiences of others.
Many empathy scales are described in the counseling and psychology research literature. One main reason the Mehrabian and Epstein (1972) measure of emotional empathy was used in the present study is that, of all empathy scales reviewed, there is stronger evidence that this scale is related to counseling skills in counseling students. The Ridgway and Sharpley (1990) study supports the validity of the Mehrabian and Epstein scale for counseling students, and emotional empathy appears to be a personality characteristic that is associated with the development of counseling skills. In addition, Davis (1983) reported that the Mehrabian and Epstein measure correlated highly to the Empathic Concern subscale of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index, a subscale designed to measure emotional empathy. Therefore, concurrent validity of the Mehrabian and Epstein scale is supported. Another main reason for using the Mehrabian and Epstein measure is that it was the scale used most often by researchers who investigated the relationship between attachment and emotional empathy (see Barnett, 1987). Mehrabian and Epstein (1972) reported a split-half reliability coefficient of .84 for their measure of emotional empathy. The internal consistency reliability for our sample of counseling students was Cronbach’s alpha = .74.
Adult attachment. Adult attachment was quantified using the Attachment Style Questionnaire (ASQ; Feeney, Noller, & Hanrahan, 1994). The ASQ is a 40-item self-report measure of adult attachment. Items are in 6-point, Likert-style format. The 40 items constitute 5 scales: Self-Confidence (in relationships), Discomfort With Closeness, Need for Approval, Preoccupation With Relationships, and Relationships as Secondary (to achievement). The instrument was developed using a sample of college students. Feeney et al. reported that their results supported the four-category adult attachment structure of Bartholomew and Horowitz (1991). Secure and fearful groups were clearly categorized by scores on the five scales, whereas dismissing- and preoccupied-style groups were not as clearly or consistently categorized by the instrument.
Brennan et al. (1998) did a large-scale study of several adult attachment instruments. They factor analyzed scores on a total of 60 attachment scales. Brennan et al. found that the five ASQ scales and scales from the other instruments formed two higher order (latent) dimensions of adult attachment, namely, avoidance and anxiety. In their analyses, these two factors were practically orthogonal.
Following the factor analysis results of Brennan et al. (1998), we used the five ASQ scales as indicators of two latent (higher order) adult attachment variables avoidance and anxiety. The ASQ scales Self-Confidence, Discomfort With Closeness, and Relationships as Secondary were observed variables used as indicators of the latent variable avoidance. The ASQ scales Preoccupation With Relationships and Need for Approval were observed indicators of the latent variable anxiety. The Self-Confidence scale has a negative loading on avoidance (lower Self-Confidence, more avoidance). Other scales have positive loadings on their respective factors avoidance and anxiety (see Brennan et al., 1998, p. 60).
The study of adult attachment by Brennan et al. (1998) supports the construct validity of these two latent dimensions of adult attachment. Their factor analyses also support the concurrent validity of our combinations of ASQ scales to comprise these dimensions. However, results of Brennan et al. and Ng (2000) raise some doubts about the construct validity of the Relationships as Secondary scale. Of all the ASQ scales, it had the weakest relationship to its underlying factor avoidance. For our sample of counseling students, the internal consistency reliability coefficients for the ASQ scales were Self-Confidence = .67, Discomfort With Closeness = .85, Need for Approval = .78, Preoccupation With Relationships = .70, and Relationships as Secondary = .59. As expected, in the study with which the ASQ was developed (Feeney et al., 1994), reliabilities were higher for most scales, ranging from .76 to .84.
Data Analysis
We used Amos (Analysis of Moment Structures; Arbuckle & Wothke, 1999) for structural equation modeling (SEM). Amos allows the use of latent (unobserved) independent variables—latent dimensions represented by two or more indicators (observed or measured variables). A latent variable is like an underlying factor in factor analysis. The items in a factor analysis are the indicators, or observed variables. The latent variables and their indicators constitute the measurement model. Amos also allows examination of the effects of multiple latent variables and observed variables on a dependent variable. This is the structural model. Amos allows researchers to assess the statistical fit of their models or specific components of the models to the data. In the present study, we sought to determine the effects of the latent independent variables (avoidance and anxiety) on the dependent variable (emotional empathy), while taking into account effects of other pertinent independent variables and interrelationships among independent variables.
SEM assumes linearity (linear relationships) and normality (normal distributions). Therefore, we first examined the distributions of variables (i.e., univariate analysis). Next, we examined correlations between pairs of variables to determine what variables (e.g., gender, age) should be included in the model and to assess linearity (bivariate analysis). Then, through regression analysis, we examined the suggested Avoidance ´ Anxiety interaction. An interaction is a curvilinear relationship and would therefore need to be accounted for in a model. The final phase of data analysis was building a model (multivariate analysis). The goal was to build a model that exhibited minimum error and provided a fit to the data.
Results
Univariate Analysis
Before other analyses were performed, the distributions of variables were examined to determine if data conformed to the linear model. We used the criterion of the skewness statistic divided by the standard error of the skewness. If the resulting value was greater than the critical value 1.96, variables were considered significantly skewed. Scores on the empathy scale approximated a normal distribution. On the ASQ scales, only scores on the Self-Confidence scale met the criterion for being significantly skewed, and the skewness was negative. After using a power transformation, scores were not significantly skewed. These scores and scores on other ASQ scales were then linearly transformed to T scores.
Bivariate Analysis
Correlations among all the observed variables are presented in Table 1. Note that gender was positively correlated with empathy scores. Men were coded the value 1, and women were coded 2. Therefore, the positive correlation reveals that women tended to score higher on empathy than men did. Gender was negatively correlated with scores on the Relationships as Secondary scale, indicating that men were more likely to have high scores on that scale. Counseling students’ ages were weakly correlated with empathy scores, and this relationship was not significant. Scores on the Need for Approval scale and the Preoccupation With Relationships scale were positively correlated with empathy scores. Scores on the Relationships as Secondary scale were negatively correlated with empathy scores. Bivariate correlations of Self-Confidence and Discomfort With Closeness with empathy were weak. Intercorrelations among the ASQ scales were consistent with the theoretical model of avoidance and anxiety, except that the Relationships as Secondary scale did not correlate highly with the Self-Confidence scale or the Discomfort With Closeness scale. However, these observed correlations were significant. In addition, ASQ scales representing avoidance were moderately correlated with ASQ scales representing anxiety. Bivariate scatterplots revealed only minimal departures from linearity.
Analysis of the Avoidance ´ Anxiety Interaction
The theorized effect of the Avoidance ´ Anxiety interaction (Bartholomew & Shaver, 1998; Fraley & Waller, 1998; Klohnen & John, 1998) was investigated through preliminary regression analyses. We totaled scales that represented the avoidance dimension (Self-Confidence, Discomfort With Closeness, Relationships as Secondary) and the anxiety dimension (Need for Approval, Preoccupation With Relationships). We then created an interaction term by multiplying these two totals. Following Cohen and Cohen (1975) and Pedhazur (1982), we examined the interaction term by entering the two separate variables—avoidance and anxiety—into a regression equation. We then entered the interaction term. The interaction term was not significant, p = .151. Therefore, when effects of avoidance and anxiety were partialed out, this interaction was not important in explaining emotional empathy and was not included in the structural equation modeling analysis.
Structural Equation Modeling Analysis
Because correlations for age were relatively low and nonsignificant, age was excluded from the structural equation model. Gender was included as an exogenous variable (a variable with no paths leading to it, only from it). Avoidance and anxiety were latent variables in the measurement model. Indicators of avoidance were Self-Confidence, Discomfort With Closeness, and Relationships as Secondary. Indicators for anxiety were Need for Approval and Preoccupation With Relationships. Although gender was significantly correlated with Relationships as Secondary scores, preliminary models indicated no significant effects from gender to the latent variables, avoidance and anxiety; therefore, these paths were not included in the model. A covariance path between avoidance and anxiety was included. This path assumes no sequence or causal direction between avoidance and anxiety, but it does take into account the interrelationship between the two latent variables. Inclusion of this covariance path is consistent with attachment theory, which posits that avoidance and anxiety work together to constitute adult attachment and affect outcomes (e.g., see Fraley & Waller, 1998). Paths to emotional empathy from gender, avoidance, and anxiety formed the structural model. We used maximum likelihood estimation for structural equation modeling.
This initial model produced a significant chi-square value, c2(12, N = 143) = 24.48, p = .017, suggesting that the model did not fit the data. The statistics for this initial model are presented in Table 2. Authors suggest the CMIN/DF statistic as a useful ratio for assessing model fit (Arbuckle & Wothke, 1999). This statistic is the minimum discrepancy (the chi-square value) divided by the degrees of freedom. If this statistic is less than the value 3, the model fits reasonably well, and a ratio close to 1 indicates a good fit (Arbuckle & Wothke, 1999). As shown in Table 2, the CMIN/DF for this initial model was close to the value 2. The comparative fit index (CFI) compares the model to the independence model (a model assuming no relationships among variables). According to Kelloway (1998), CFI values greater than .90 indicate a good fit of the model to the data as compared with the independence model. For this model, the CFI was in the acceptable range. With regard to error in the model, the root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) statistic was just over .08. If the RMSEA is below .05, the model fit is close; if it is between .05 and .08, the fit is adequate; and if it is above .10, the fit is not acceptable (see Arbuckle, 1997; Kelloway, 1998). Therefore, the error in the model was relatively high, indicating that the model—in relation to its degrees of freedom—did not fit the data closely. The RMSEA is a relatively new and meaningful statistic for assessing model fit (see Arbuckle & Wothke, 1999; Kelloway, 1998).
Two modification indices from the analysis suggested sources of error problems in the model, the covariance between the error for Relationships as Secondary scores and the error for emotional empathy and between the Relationships as Secondary error term and gender. If these errors and variable had been allowed to covary, the model would have better fitted the data. However, we had no theoretical bases for having these errors and variables covary. There was other evidence of measurement problems associated with the Relationships as Secondary scale. The internal consistency reliability was relatively low (.59). In this initial model, the factor loading of Relationships as Secondary on avoidance was low (.43) relative to loadings for Self-Confidence (–.70) and Discomfort With Closeness (.73), and relative to loadings on anxiety (.70 for Need for Approval and .83 for Preoccupation With Relationships).
On the basis of these findings and on literature suggesting measurement difficulties associated with the Relationships as Secondary scale (Brennan et al., 1998; Ng, 2000), we developed an alternative, modified model excluding the Relationships as Secondary scale as an indicator of avoidance. This model is presented in Figure 1. In Figure 1, standardized regression coefficients (path coefficients) are positioned adjacent to the center of the arrows. The numbers at the top right corners of rectangles are the R2s for those indicator variables.
The chi-square for this modified model was nonsignificant, c2(7, N = 143) = 6.61, p = .471, indicating model fit. In comparing the fit of this modified model with the initial model, the fit of the modified model was much better (see Table 2). The chi-square and CMIN/DF were much smaller in the modified model. The CFI was larger and the RMSEA was much smaller in the modified model. All the statistics for the modified model indicate a very close fit of the model to the data. The modified model accounted for 25% of the variability in emotional empathy. There was a drop of only .03 from the R2 in the initial model (.28) to the R2 in the modified model (.25) that excluded the Relationships as Secondary scale. Therefore, the modified model had a much closer fit to the data and much less error while the drop in the variability in emotional empathy explained by the model was small.
In the measurement model (Figure 1), factor loadings were relatively high on avoidance and anxiety. All loadings were in expected directions, with self-confidence loading negatively and the other indicators loading positively. The correlation (standardized covariance) between avoidance and anxiety was fairly strong (.58), indicating that whereas avoidance and anxiety are separate constructs, they are positively related to one another for this sample of counseling students. In the structural model, the effect of gender on empathy was significant (critical ratio = 3.392, p < .001). This effect was positive, indicating that women scored higher than men on emotional empathy. The effect of avoidance on empathy was negative and significant (critical ratio = –2.476, p < .05). Increases in avoidance were associated with decreases in empathy scores, given all variables in the structural equation. The effect of anxiety on empathy was positive and significant (critical ratio = 3.687, p < .001). Increases in attachment anxiety were associated with increases in empathy.
Analysis of Suppression in the Model
Note in Table 1 that the bivariate correlations of avoidance scales (Self-Confidence and Discomfort With Closeness) with emotional empathy scores were weak; however, in the structural equation (Figure 1), the effect of avoidance on empathy was strong and negative. This signals suppression in the model (see Cohen & Cohen, 1975). We used post hoc analyses to understand the suppression in the model. First, we generated a structural model that excluded anxiety. In this model, the effect of avoidance was weak (path coefficient = –.05). Therefore, in the model in Figure 1, anxiety mediates the relationship between avoidance and empathy. More precisely, avoidance became a suppressor variable in the equation by suppressing error for anxiety. Because of the relatively strong positive relationship between avoidance and anxiety, avoidance accounted for (suppressed) variance in anxiety that was irrelevant to emotional empathy (irrelevant in a statistical sense, not necessarily in a theoretical sense). We next generated a structural equation model excluding avoidance. In this model, the R2 was .18, a .07 drop from the R2 in the model in Figure 1. Therefore, the suppressor variable, avoidance, was relatively important to the model, although its bivariate, simple relationship to empathy was weak. Counseling students who were lower in avoidance and higher in anxiety were higher in emotional empathy. Inversely, counselor trainees who were higher in avoidance and lower in anxiety were lower in empathy.
This is classical suppression, as defined by Cohen and Cohen (1975). It may seem that this suppressor effect constitutes an interaction, which would be inconsistent with our preliminary analysis used to examine the interaction (we found the interaction nonsignificant). However, Cohen and Cohen pointed out the differences between suppression and interaction, with the main difference being that an interaction exists when the effects of the variables that constitute the interaction are partialed out, in this case, the effects of avoidance and anxiety partialed out of the Avoidance ´ Anxiety effect. This was the procedure used in our preliminary analysis of the interaction. Although we label avoidance as the suppressor variable, Cohen and Cohen noted that suppression is mutual between variables. When the two latent variables avoidance and anxiety were both in the structural equation, the negative effect of avoidance emerged and the positive effect of anxiety became stronger. The combined effects of avoidance and anxiety were greater than their additive singular effects.
Discussion and Implications
We developed a model of the effects of adult attachment on emotional empathy. After modifying the measurement model by excluding one (Relationships as Secondary) of the three initial indicators of the latent variable avoidance, our model provided a close statistical fit to the data. We found that the quantitative, latent dimensions of adult attachment—avoidance and anxiety—worked together to influence emotional empathy in counseling students; that is, avoidance and anxiety mediated one another in their effects on emotional empathy. This result, in and of itself, is consistent with attachment theory (Bartholomew & Horowitz, 1991; Bartholomew & Shaver, 1998; Simpson & Rholes, 1998). However, the characteristics of some of the major effects we found are inconsistent with the basic implication of attachment theory that securely attached individuals should have the highest levels of emotional empathy (see Lopez, 1995; Lopez & Brennan, 2000; Pistole, 1989, 1999; Pistole & Watkins, 1995). According to applications of attachment theory to counseling, it would be expected that the combination of low anxiety and low avoidance (secure attachment) would be associated with highest levels of counselor trainees’ caregiving and emotional empathy. We found, instead, that counselor trainees who were high in anxiety and low in avoidance had the highest levels of empathy.
Whereas this result is inconsistent with theorizing, it is consistent with some previous research (e.g., Bartholomew & Horowitz, 1991; Searle & Meara, 1999), suggesting that preoccupation with relationships is related to higher levels of sociability and interpersonal warmth and to an intense focus on the emotions of others. Also, our results are consistent with more tangential research on counselor trainees (Watts et al., 1995; Wilcoxon et al., 1989) suggesting that negative perceptions of the family of origin are related to higher levels of counseling skill. Wolgien and Coady (1997), through interviews of effective counselors, found that the majority of those interviewed attributed some portion of their counseling effectiveness to their ability to deal with distress in their family of origin. These three studies (Watts et al., 1995; Wilcoxon et al., 1989; Wolgien & Coady, 1997) provide support for the wounded healer concept. Although we did not directly test the viability of this concept in the present study, the wounded healer concept does offer a plausible explanation of our findings, and our findings, in turn, provide support for the concept. Perhaps people’s sensitivity to their own needs sensitizes people to the needs of others. From a common sense perspective, our findings seem entirely logical. It appears obvious that counselor trainees who do not avoid their own issues and who are highly attuned to their own emotions and vulnerabilities (anxiety) would be more attuned to the emotions and vulnerabilities of others.
Our results support the notion that attachment theory does not readily transfer to counselors and counseling as some have assumed. Likewise, Bartholomew and Thompson (1995) expressed doubts about the applicability of attachment theory to counseling. However, it would be incorrect to conclude—based on our results—that attachment theory does not apply at all to counselors. The effects that we found were significant and accounted for a practically significant portion of the variability in emotional empathy scores. Rather than disparaging attachment theory as a whole, perhaps attachment theory requires special interpretations or adjustments when applied to counselors, counselor effectiveness, and counselor training. That is, anxiety regarding relationships may sensitize counselors to their clients. Distress and insecurity in family-of-origin experiences, preoccupation with relationships, and need for approval from others may not directly hinder counselors’ capacity for empathy and caregiving. In fact, addressing and coping with such difficulties may help counselors become more effective in helping others. From an attachment theory perspective, affect regulation is prized more than emotional expressiveness and sensitivity (see Bartholomew & Horowitz, 1991; Lopez & Brennan, 2000; Pistole, 1999). Perhaps this aspect of attachment theory requires adjustment when being applied to counselors and counselor trainees. Counseling is often a highly emotional undertaking, and interpersonal selflessness is more appropriate for counseling than for most other interpersonal situations.
Whereas preoccupation with relationships and need for approval (anxiety) may sensitize counselor trainees to clients’ emotions, this distress and insecurity may take its toll on counseling students. Distress in trainees is likely compounded when they take on the emotions of their clients. Distress is further compounded when students are required to perform on audiotape, “observed through the glass,” and on camera. Counselor educators and supervisors, therefore, should be perceptive of and responsive to students’ and supervisees’ distress.
Both attachment theory and the wounded healer concept are frameworks that can be used for understanding and responding to trainees’ anxiety. For example, the consistent caregiver concept from attachment theory can be applied to the supervisor–trainee relationship; that is, supervisors can provide a secure and comfortable base from which trainees feel free to explore new behaviors, make new types of connections with others, and learn (see Pistole & Watkins, 1995). Perhaps trainees who are anxious can become earned secure (see Lopez, 1995) in their attachment style. When trainees gain confidence in effectively dealing with their own emotions and the emotions of others, they develop more positive working models of themselves and become more secure interpersonally and intrapersonally. To provide an example of applying the wounded healer concept, supervisors could initially explain the wounded healer concept to trainees. This would help to normalize trainees’ anxiety, and it might enhance trainees’ self-awareness by helping them see the relevance of their previous experiences and selves. Through helping trainees to understand how their anxiety can be used in productive ways in counseling, trainees could direct their anxiety toward positive goals for their clients and for themselves.
In many ways, feeling the emotions of others is a brave undertaking. Our findings and our explanations of the findings underscore the need for counselor–trainee self-care. Given the high level of distress that trainees (even those who are progressing well) likely experience, the need for counselor educators and supervisors to promote self-care is paramount. Cushway (1996), operating from the wounded healer concept, formulated a strong argument for trainee self-care and supervisor nurturance. Cushway noted that whereas counselors may be extremely tolerant of obstacles faced by their clients, they are not as tolerant of vulnerability in their supervisees or colleagues. Cushway referred to this as the macho myth of invulnerability. It seems particularly unfair to be intolerant of trainees’ obstacles when being aware—in light of our results—that low levels of avoidance and high levels of anxiety are associated with higher levels of empathy. Counseling does not need to be a profession—as some professions have been described—that eats its own young.
A caution regarding our interpretation of the results is warranted. We studied graduate students who were beginning their counseling skills training. Also, the research with which our results are consistent focused on students who were early in their skills-training (e.g., Watts et al., 1995; Wilcoxon et al., 1989). Generally, initial training focuses on the initial stage of the counseling process. Whereas emotional empathy may help counselor trainees in initiating counseling relationships, it may not be as useful in the later stages of counseling (see Gladstein, 1983).
On the basis of the literature review, we assumed that higher levels of empathy are more desirable in counseling. It seems logical, however, that counselor trainees who are intently focused on clients’ emotions are likely to become enmeshed or fused with clients, or at least lack objectivity. The descriptors enmeshed (Lopez, 1995) and overly expressive (Bartholomew & Horowitz, 1991) have been used to characterize attachment anxiety. Pistole (1999) implied that counselors with preoccupied attachment styles would likely be adversely affected by clients’ negative emotions and would not regulate their affect well. Perhaps high levels of expressiveness or enmeshment are manifested in high levels of emotional empathy, and as the counseling process moves from the initial stage, anxiously attached counselors become less effective.
However, whereas we acknowledge that high levels of emotional empathy may in some cases have some negative products in counseling, if counselor trainees do not effectively empathize with clients, then the counseling process will likely be subverted altogether. In our collective experience as counselor educators and supervisors, we have noted that it is easier to temper a strong emotional focus and expressiveness exhibited by students (anxiety) than to promote an emotional focus, sensitivity, and expressiveness in students who use distancing strategies (avoidance) or who otherwise are not highly perceptive of their own and their clients’ emotions.
Other findings in the present study reveal consistencies and inconsistencies with attachment theory and previous research. We found a relatively strong avoidance–anxiety relationship, whereas research with general samples (e.g., Brennan et al., 1998) revealed a weak relationship between the two latent attachment dimensions. This inconsistency implies that the avoidance–anxiety relationship may operate differently in counseling students and that some further qualification of the theory may be needed in applying it to them. Consistent with other studies (Brennan et al., 1998; Ng, 2000), the Relationships as Secondary subscale was problematic in our sample of counselor trainees. We found that the internal consistency reliability was low for this subscale. In addition, the construct validity seems questionable because there was a relatively high level of error associated with this variable in both the measurement model and the structural model. Regarding gender, there was no gender effect on adult attachment dimensions. There was a direct, independent effect of gender on emotional empathy, with women having higher empathy levels. The number of men in our sample was relatively small; therefore, results regarding gender may not be reliable.
Conclusion
Although our results are not entirely consistent with predictions emanating from attachment theory, the strength of the effects we found illuminates the importance of adult attachment to the emotional functioning of counselor trainees. Therefore, attachment theory is a useful framework in counselor education and supervision, especially if tenets regarding affect regulation are modified. Counseling students who use distancing strategies (avoidance) and have low anxiety regarding relationships seem least likely to demonstrate emotional empathy. These students may have difficulty in emotionally connecting with clients and may require special attention from instructors and supervisors. Our findings regarding the negative effect of avoidance coupled with the positive effect of anxiety are consistent with the concept of the wounded healer. Therefore, this concept has heuristic potential. And to reiterate, findings strongly imply the importance of supervisor tolerance and self-care for people who are training to be counselors.
Counseling programs should focus on the personal development of counseling students (see Association for Counselor Education and Supervision, 1993). Attachment theory and the wounded healer concept provide direction for understanding and helping counseling students in their personal and professional development. Based on our results, others’ results, and on theory, the following general goals for counselor educators and supervisors seem appropriate:

1. Help students connect to their own emotional experiences. Avoidance of emotions is counterproductive. Trainees need to recognize and deal with their challenges and vulnerabilities. When students connect with their own emotional perceptual schemata, the product is increased self-awareness.
2. Help trainees normalize and appropriately channel anxiety. Anxiety is likely compounded by several influences as students begin to develop counseling skills. If anxiety is normalized, it is less likely to rise to debilitating levels. The positive products of anxiety could be enhanced self-awareness and sensitivity to clients’ emotions and needs.
3. Help trainees develop effective use of the self in counseling. When self-awareness is enhanced, there is increased potential for developing interpersonal awareness. Supervisors should help students relate personal emotional functioning to counselor emotional functioning and the counseling process.
4. Help students develop their personal coping skills and self-care. Connecting to vulnerabilities of self and others requires courage. Because of the increased emotional requirements of counseling, supervisors will need to pay close attention to trainees’ coping and self-care.

Given that attachment seems to have a practically significant effect on emotional empathy and that effects we found with counseling students reveal inconsistency with attachment theory and application of the theory to counselors, further study is needed on attachment and counselor functioning. One shortcoming of our study was that self-report measures were used. Studies using behavioral counseling outcomes would likely increase knowledge and understanding. Studies are needed on the influence of attachment dimensions on all phases of the counseling process. Studies are needed with other samples of trainees and with samples of practicing counselors. Attachment may be related to aspects of counseling other than emotional empathy. Whereas attachment theory addresses emotional functioning most closely, it does address cognitive functioning (see Lopez & Brennan, 2000). Perhaps avoidance and anxiety influence counselors’ conceptualization frameworks. Studies on empathy and affect regulation seem warranted. Our results point to a need for research that focuses directly on the applicability and validity of the caregiver concept and the wounded healer concept in counseling and in counselor education and supervision.

OBJECTIVES
After studying this chapter, you should be able to
• List and discuss the major codes of professional ethics as they apply to tests and testing practices
• Compare and contrast the commonali¬ties and differences among the different codes
• Identify the important federal and state legislation that affects tests and testing practices
• Discuss relevant court decisions and their impact on tests and testing practices
• Demonstrate knowledge of legal and ethical issues in evaluation and assessment

PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS AND CODES OF ETHICS
Because of the impact of testing on society and lives, professional standards and ethics have been developed to promote responsible professional practice in psychological testing and assessment. Ethics can be viewed as moral principles adopted by an indi¬vidual or group that provide the basis for right conduct. Most professional organiza¬tions have established codes of ethics for their members to follow. In addition, state and national laws regulate ethical behavior. The primary purpose for laws and ethical codes is to protect the welfare of the client. Laws and ethical codes provide guidelines for professionals; however, neither provides exact answers to all ethical dilemmas. Thus, it is up to individual professionals in the field to reflect on their behavior and assess whether what they’re doing is in the best interest of their clients.
Although a number of professional organizations related to testing and assessment have ethical codes, the discussion will be organized around several of the general eth¬ical principles put forth by the National Board of Certified Counselors (2005), the? American Counseling Association (2005), the American Psychological Association <APA; 2002), the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing (American Edu¬cational Research Association, American Psychological Association, National Council on Measurement in Education, 1999), and the National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME; 1995).
NBCC Code of Ethics
The National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC, 2005) identifies 15 standards deal¬ing with measurement and evaluation located in section D of its Code of Ethics. The first deals with counselor competence. Counselors must recognize their limitations and perform only techniques or administer assessment instruments for which they have received appropriate training.
Counselors utilizing tests or making decisions based on test results need appro¬priate training and skills in educational and psychological measurement, validation cri¬teria, test research, and guidelines for test development and use.
The counselor must provide orientation to the examinee prior to and following administration of assessment instruments. In the orientation, the counselors must in¬form the client of the explicit use of the test results.
The counselor us responsible for the appropriate selection of the assessment in¬struments to be used, and must ensure the validity and reliability of the instrument. In¬struments that are biased or otherwise inappropriate will provide invalid information for decision making.
The counselor must be guarded when making statements to the public about spe¬cific instruments and techniques. False claims and unwarranted connotations often re¬sult from misunderstanding or poor communication.
Counselors must record when tests are not administered under standard condi¬tions or when irregularities or unusual behavior arise during testing. The behavior might invalidate the results. The NBCC code deems unsupervised or inadequately supervised tests as not meeting ethical standards. The exception to this are tests such as interest inventories, which are often designed to be self-administered and self-scored.
Counselors must maintain test security. Coaching and dissemination of test items and materials can invalidate the test results. Counselors, however, must discuss the conditions that might provide more favorable results, such as telling test takers that they can guess without any penalty.
Counselors must understand the technical limitations of an instrument when in¬terpreting the results. Counselors need to schedule periodic review and/or retesting of the client to help prevent stereotyping.
The counselor must be concerned about the welfare of the test takers. Who re¬ceives the results and how they will be used are important considerations. Interpreta¬tions must be made in light of any limitations in the instruments or norming group.
Computer-generated test administration and scoring programs may be utilized if the counselor is sure that this type of testing will provide the client with accurate re¬sults. Computer-based interpretations must be checked for validity by developers be¬fore being marketed.
If the tests report insufficient technical data, counselors must explicitly state to examinees the specific purposes for the use of such instruments.
Counselors need to be cautious when evaluating or interpreting the performance of minority group members or other individuals not represented in the standardized sample. Counselors need to recognize that test results give a picture of the test taker at only one moment in time and may become obsolete.

APA Standards
The Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct (APA, 2002) lists 11 stan¬dards for assessment. The first is that psychologists should base recommendations on information and techniques sufficient enough to substantiate their findings. They are to have conducted adequate assessment of an individual in or to support their state¬ments or conclusions.
The second standard relates to the use of assessment techniques, interviews, tests, or instruments. Psychologists must use valid and reliable assessment techniques in an appropriate manner as evidenced by research. Psychologists must consider the vari¬ous characteristics of th<; individual being assessed that might affect their judgments or reduce the accuracy of their interpretation.
The next standard relates to informed consent in assessment. Psychologists must obtain informed consent when using assessment techniques; this includes explaining the nature and purpose of the assessment, fees, involvement of third parties, and lim¬its of confidentiality.
Psychologists must not release test data (clients’ test results) unless the client gives permission to release such data. In the absence of client permission, psycholo¬gists provide test data only as required by law or court order.
The fifth standard refers to test construction. If psychologists are involved in test development, they are responsible for conducting research with tests and other assessment techniques using scientific procedures and current professional knowl¬edge for test design, standardization, validation, reduction of bias, and recommenda¬tions for use.
In interpreting test data, psychologists need to explain results in the language that can be understood by the individual being assessed. The psychologists must give ap¬propriate explanations of results.
Psychologists have a responsibility of not promoting the use of psychological as¬sessment techniques by unqualified examiners.
The freshness of results also is a factor. Psychologists refrain from basing their as¬sessment, intervention decisions, or recommendations on outdated test results and measures that are not useful for the current purpose.
Individuals offering assessment or scoring services to other professionals have the obligation to make sure their procedures are appropriate, valid, and reliable.
In explaining assessment results, psychologists must ensure that explanations are given by appropriate individuals or services.
The last standard holds the psychologist responsible for making reasonable efforts to maintain the integrity and security of tests and other assessment techniques con¬sistent with the law, contractual obligations, and the code of ethics.
ACA Code of Ethics
The American Counseling Association (ACA, 2005) has a code of ethics that has a spe¬cific section on Evaluation, Assessment, and Interpretation—Section E. This section be¬gins with a general introductory subsection describing (1) the crucial importance of assessments being reliable and vaild and (2) the counselor’s responsibilities to not mis¬use assessment information and to share with clients their assessment results, the coun¬selor’s interpretation of diose results, and how the assessment will be used to inform the counselor’s work -with the client Section E of the ACA Code of Ethics then goes on to discuss counselor competence to use and interpret assessment, informed consent, release of data to qualified professionals, the diagnosis of mental disorders, instrument selection, conditions of assessment administration, multicultural and diversity issues in assessment, scoring and interpretation of assessments, assessment security, obsolete as¬sessments and outdated results, and, finally, assessment construction.
Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing
One of the most comprehensive documents on ethics is the 1999 Standards for Edu¬cational and Psychological Testing. Three professional organizations took the lead in developing this position statement: the American Educational Research Association (AERA), the American Psychological Association (APA), and the National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME). This document, which we will refer to as the Standards represents the sixth in a series of publications that originated in 1954 to provide developers and users of tests with assistance in evaluating the technical ade¬quacy of their instruments for educational and psychological assessment. The intent of the Standards is to promote the sound and ethical use of tests and to provide crite¬ria for the evaluation of tests, testing practices, and the effects of test use.
The current revision of the Standards is organized into three parts. Additionally, it contains more extensive introductory text material than its predecessor. We recom¬mend that anyone who routinely engages in any form of testing—from test design and implementation to assessment and evaluation—obtain a copy of the Standards and be¬come familiar with the guidelines.
Test Construction, Evaluation, and Documentation. This section contains stan¬dards for validity; reliability and errors of measurement; test development and revision; scaling, norming, and score comparability; test administration, scoring, and reporting; and supporting documentation for tests. According to the Standards, “validity is the most fundamental consideration in developing and evaluating tests” (AERA et al., 1999, p. 9). As such, the Standards addresses the different types of validity evidence needed to support test use. In addition, standards on reliability and errors of measurement ad¬dress the issue of consistency of test scores. Although the Standards supports stan¬dardized procedures, it recognizes special situations that arise in which modifications of the procedures may be advisable or legally mandated; for example, “persons of dif¬ferent backgrounds, ages, or familiarity with testing may need nonstandard modes of test administration or a more comprehensive orientation to the testing process” (AERA et al., 1999, p. 61). Standards for the development and revision of formal, published in¬struments, an often overlooked area of importance, describe criteria important for scale construction.
Fairness in Testing. This section contains standards on fairness and bias, the rights and responsibilities of test takers, testing individuals of diverse linguistic back¬grounds, and testing individuals with disabilities. This section emphasizes the im¬portance of fairness in all aspects of testing and assessment. “The fair treatment of test takers is not only a matter of equity, but also promotes validity and reliability of the inferences made from the test performance” (AERA et al., 1999, p. 85). Special at¬tention to issues related to individuals of diverse linguistic backgrounds or with dis¬abilities may be needed when developing, administering, scoring, interpreting, and making decisions based on test scores.
Testing Applications. This final section includes standards involving general re¬sponsibilities of test users, psychological testing and assessment, educational testing and assessment, testing in employment and credentialing, and testing in program evaluation and public policy. In addition to emphasizing the ethical obligations of test users, the Standards addresses specific issues related to psychological, educational, em¬ployment, program evaluation, and other specific applications of test results.

National Council on Measurement in Education
The National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME; 1995) published its Code of Professional Responsibilities in Educational Measurement <CPR). The council developed the code to promote professionally responsible practices to educational assessment.
The CPR provides a framework of eight major areas of assessment standards that need to be addressed, including responsibilities of those who do the following:
1. Develop assessments
2. Market and sell assessments
3. Select assessments
4. Administer assessments
5. Score assessments
6. Interpret, use, and communicate assessment results
7. Educate about assessment
8. Evaluate programs and conduct research on assessments
Each section includes more specific standards. In Section 6, for example, those who interpret, use, and communicate assessment results are to provide all needed in¬formation about the assessment, its purposes, and its uses for the proper interpreta¬tion of the results; provide an understandable discussion of all reported scores, including proper interpretations; promote the use of multiple sources of information about persons or programs in making educational decisions; communicate the ade¬quacy and appropriateness of any norms or standards being used in the interpretation of assessment results and any likely misinterpretations; and protect the rights of pri¬vacy for individuals and institutions.
NCME and the American Association of School Administrators, the National As¬sociation of Elementary School Principals, and the National Association of Sec¬ondary School Principals (1994) have developed a set of standards for administrator training programs that utilize ethical standards as one criterion for determining com¬petency. Administrators are to demonstrate a working knowledge of the Compe¬tency Standards in Student Assessment for Educational Administrators. One key element in this fast standard is the ability to recognize unethical, illegal, and other¬wise inappropriate assessment methods and uses of assessment information. As with other standards, the administrator needs to understand and be able to apply the basic concepts of assessment and measurement theory; understand the purpose of different kinds of assessment (e.g., achievement, ability, and diagnostic); understand measurement terminology and be able to express that terminology in nontechnical terms; recognize appropriate and inappropriate uses of assessment techniques or re¬sults and understand and follow ethical guidelines for assessment; know die me¬chanics of constructing various types of assessment that are both appropriate and useful; interpret and use assessment information appropriately; know how interpre¬tations of assessments may be moderated by students’ socioeconomic, cultural, lin¬guistic, and other background factors; be able to evaluate an assessment strategy or program; and, finally, be able to utilize computer-based assessment tools that collect input, mediating, and outcome variables that are related to student learning, in¬struction, and performance.

Professional General Responsibilities Listed in NCME Code
1. Promote the health-a id safety of al examinees.
2. Be knowledgeable about and behave in compliance with state and federal laws relevant to the conduct of professional activities.
3. Maintain and improve their professional competence in educational assessment.
4. Provide assessment services only in areas of their competence and experience, affording full disclosure of their professional qualifications.
5. Promote the understanding of sound assessment practices in education.
6. Adhere to the highest standards of conduct within agencies that provide educational services.
7. Perform all professional responsibilities with honesty, integrity, due care, and fairness.

SOCIAL AND ETHICAL ISSUES
Currently, ethical issues receive widespread attention by helping professionals who use psychological and educational tests. There are a number of themes contained in all of the codes, for example, professional competence, test selection, test interpreta¬tion, test development, and so on.
Professional Training and Competence
One of the most important ethical issues is the competency of the professional in the use of available testing instruments. The professional must have the knowledge and understanding to select, administer, score and interpret the instrument. Different types of tests require different levels of competency. Some of the tests that require a high level of skill are the Wechsler scales, the Thematic Apperception Test, and the Rorschach.
The phrase test user qualifications refers to the combination of knowledge, skills, abilities, training, experience, and, where appropriate, credentials that are considered optimal for test use (APA, 2000). Many negative attitudes toward testing have resulted ” from certain abuses or misuses of testing. The professional standards of different as-: sodadons have set explicit guidelines for the qualifications of tests users. Those guide¬lines can be translated into competencies. Test users should be able to do the following tasks:
1. Understand basic measurement concepts such as scales of measurement, types of reliability, types of validity, and types of norms.
2. Understand the basic statistics of measurement and define, compute, and inter¬pret measures of central tendency, variability, and relationship.
3. Compute and apply measurement formulas such as the standard error of mea¬surement and the Spearman-Brown prophecy formula.
4. Read, evaluate, and understand test manuals and reports.
5. Follow exactly as specified the procedures for administering, scoring, and inter¬preting a test.
6. list and discuss major tests in their fields.
7. Identify and locate sources of test information in their fields.
8. Discuss as well as demonstrate the use of different systems of presenting test data in tabular and graphic forms.
9. Compare and contrast different types of test scores and discuss their strengths and weaknesses.
10. Explain the relative nature of norm-referenced interpretation and the use of the standard error of measurement in interpreting individual scores.
11. Help test takers and counselees to use tests as exploratory tools.
12. Aid test takers and counselees in their decision making and in their accomplish¬ment of developmental tasks.
13. Pace an interpretative session to enhance clients’ knowledge of test results.
14. Use strategies to prepare clients for testing to maximize the accuracy of test results.
15. Explain test results to test takers thoughtfully and accurately, and in a language they understand.
16. Use the communication skills needed in test interpretation and identify strategies for presenting the results to individuals, groups, parents, students, teachers, and professionals.
17. Shape clients’ reaction to and encourage appropriate use of the test information.
18. Be alert to the verbal and nonverbal cues expressed by clients, not only in the test¬ing situation but also during feedback situations.
19. Use appropriate strategies with clients who perceive the test results as negative.
20. Be familiar with the test interpretation forms and computerized report forms in order to guide clients through the information and explanation.
21. Be familiar with the legal, professional, and ethical guidelines related to testing.
22. Be aware of clients’ rights and the professional’s responsibilities as a test adminis¬trator and counselor.
23. List and discuss the current issues and trends in testing.
24. Present results from tests both verbally and in written form and know what types of information should be presented in case studies and conferences.
25. Discuss and utilize strategies to assist an individual in acquiring test-taking skills and in lowering test anxiety.
26. Identify and discuss computer-assisted and computer-adaptive testing and show application to their fields.
The 1954 Technical Recommendations/or Psychological Tests and Diagnostic Techniques and the 1966 Standards/or Educational and Psychological Tests and Manual both referred to a categorization of test user qualifications first approved by APA’s Council of Representatives in 1950. The policy was referred to as the “Ethical Standards for the Distribution of Psychological Tests and Diagnostic Aids”(APA, 1950) and included a three-level system for classifying test user qualifications. Although this three-level system was dropped from the 1974 (and subsequent) Standards without a replacement, most test publishers still use this system to determine test user qualifications (APA, 2000). The three local levels for classifying test user qual¬ifications include the following:
• A-level: Test users are not required to have advanced training in. assessment and interpretation to use instruments at the A-level (e.g., vocational proficiency tests). Test publishers will allow anyone to purchase A4evel tests.
• B-level: These instruments require more expertise on the part of the examiner than A-level tests. Typically, practitioners must have a master’s degree in psy¬chology, counseling, education or related area, or have completed specialized training or have expertise in a specific area of assessment in order to use B-level instruments. In addition, being a member of a professional organization such as the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) or the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) may make you eligible to purchase B-level products. Examples of B-level tests include general intelligence tests and interest inventories.
• C-level: C-level tests require verification of a doctorate in psychology, education, or a related field, or licensure. If you have certification by certain agencies or national organizations, such as ASHA or AOTA, you may be able to purchase C-level products based on your training or expertise. Examples include individu¬ally administered tests of intelligence, personality tests, and projective methods (e.g., Weschler IQ Tests, Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, the Rorschach).

Responsibilities of the Test Takers
The following are some guidelines and expectations of test takers:
1. Take tests that have high professional standards.
2. Be knowledgeable of your responsibilities as a test taker.
3. Be able to ask questions about areas about which you are uncertain.
4. Listen and/or read carefully about what you are being asked to do.
5. Know the location and schedule of the test you are to take.
6. Follow test instructions.
7. Report to the responsible persons if you felt that testing conditions affected your test performance.
8. Ask about how confidentiality will be handled.
Test Quality
A recurrent theme in the code of ethics is to ensure that tests meet the standards set by the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing (AERA ct al., 1999). Many tests, although published by leading, publishers and authorized by ex¬perienced test developers, have been put on the market with inadequate validity and reliability.

Client Welfare Issues
A major concern is whether the welfare of the client is taken into consideration in the choice and use of tests. Lack of confidentiality and invasion of privacy in testing are viewed as minor problems in the field of education, but are seen as a more serious prob¬lem in psychology. It is important for the counselor to have informed consent before testing the individual or releasing the results to a third party. Individuals have become suspicious about the possible “downloading” of information by unauthorized users.
Internet Testing
There are a number of problems associated with the application of psychological tests on the Internet (Butcher, Perry, 8-. Hahn, 2004). Issues include (a) whether tests ad¬ministered on the Internet are equivalent to paper-and-pencil test administration, (b) if psychological tests on the Internet have appropriate test norms, (c) assurances of Internet test validity, and (d) Internet test security.
Gender Bias
Many aptitude and interest tests have been viewed as gender biased. In fact, males tend to score higher than females in mathematics and science. Females have higher mean scores on verbal ability. However, there are no major differences in how males and fe¬males typically score on intelligence tests. Gender differences are also found on inter¬est measures, but the fairness of these tests, which compare individuals in different occupational fields, has been questioned.
Multicultural Differences
Section 9 of the Standards/or Educational and Psychological Testing (AERA et al., 1999) focuses on testing individuals of different linguistic backgrounds and includes 11 standards:
• 9.1 —Practices that may arise from language differences should be designed to reduce threats to the reliability and validity of the instrument (p. 97).
• 9.2—Test makers should collect validity and reliability data from the popula¬tion of test takers as a whole (p. 97).
• 9.3—If an examinee is proficient in more than one language, the test should be administered in the test taker’s most proficient language (p. 98).
• 9.4—The publisher should describe the test in detail in the test manual (p. 98).
• 9.5—The test maker should provide information for appropriate test use and interpretation when used with special populations (p. 98).
• 9.6—The translation from one language to another should provide the meth¬ods used and logical evidence of test score reliability and validity (p. 99).
• 9.7—No flags are attracted if there is evidence of the score compatibility across regular modified tests or administrations (p. 99).
• 9.8—Test developers should report evidence of test comparability (p. 99).
• 9.9—If an examinee is proficient in more than one language, there are other standards relating to the use of an interpreter and the scope of skills to be mea¬sured on a language proficiency test (p. 99).
• 9.10—Language proficiency of the individual being tested should be based upon a number of linguistic skills, not just one.
• 9.11—Theinterpretershouldbefluentinbothlanguagesofabilingualtesttaker.
Responsible Test Use
In each of the following situations, read the scenario and decide which ethical stan¬dards are in question.
1. The Browns decide to start a computerized dating service and mail to the clients the NEO Personality Inventory. They score the tests and match clients on the ba¬sis of their personality types, using the premise that opposites attract when they match the profiles. The clients are sent a profile sheet of their test results.
2. Jan came to the United States last year from Poland and has been staying with his relatives in New York. He was hit by a taxi while crossing a street and received a concussion and other possible head injuries. His lawyer requested a psychologi¬cal evaluation. Although Jan is not fluent in English, the examiner administered the Lauria-Nebraska Neuropsychological Battery.
3. Robin learns that the CDC company uses the 16 Personality Factor Questionnaire for screening customer representatives and decides to get a copy of the test and manual to study before applying for a position with CDC. When Robin calls the company, she finds out that she has to complete a form to be registered with the company to get the materials. She knows that she does not have the qualifications for the job, so she asks one of her professors to order the materials for her. The professor docs so. Robin studies the test and scoring keys and decides how she will answer the test questions to make herself look like the right type of person for the job
4. A psychology professor has convinced the student services committee to give al new first-year students the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory. During orientation week, all new students were administered the test but not told its pm pose, only that they would be required to take a wide variety of types of tests in eluding achievement, aptitude, interest, and personality. The professor had soon student assistants score the tests. He found that he had no time to review the re suits, so he simply had the test information filed in students’ cumulative folders.

LEGAL ASPECTS
Counselors need to keep up to date not only on current legislation that affects their practice but also with the decisions made in the courts. A number of major pieces legislation have had implications for testing practices and procedures. Legal right come from the Constitution of the United States, state constitutions, federal and stat laws, and also from interpretations by the courts. This section briefly discusses some of the relevant federal legislation, followed by some important court cases brought by individuals or groups who believed they had been banned by testing practices.
Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (Buckley Amendment)
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 protects parents’ right to ex¬amine their children’s academic records and stipulate the terms under which others may have access to them. If there is test information in the records, parents have a right to see these scores as well.
Public Law 94-142: Education of All Handicapped Children Act
Public Law 94-142, renamed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, was passed by Congress and signed into law on November 25,1975. The legislation was an effort to reduce the disparities in educational opportunities between children with and without exceptionalities. The law directs educators to develop extensive identifi¬cation procedures, provide special education in the least restrictive environment, en¬sure nondiscriminatory testing and evaluation, and form individualized programs for each child with an exceptionality. The law was passed to ensure that all children have access to an appropriate education and related services to meet their unique needs, to ensure protection of their rights, and to assist schools in providing that education.
The law requires that parents give their consent before a child is tested. Parents must be fully informed of all information relevant to the activity for which consent is sought in their native language or other mode of communication. Parents must be fully informed about a particular test to be given and agree in writing to the procedure, and have the right to inspect the test protocols. Parents are entitled to inspect and review the educational records of their children related to identification, evaluation, and placement.
Tests and other evaluation materials must be in the child’s native language or other mode of communication, unless it is clearly not feasible to do so. Each test must have been validated for die specific purpose for which it is used. Tests have to be ad¬ministered by trained personnel in conformance with instructions provided by test au¬thors and publishers. For children with disabilities, tests must be chosen and administered to ensure that they will accurately reflect aptitude and achievement lev¬els. Proper philosophy and practice calls for multiple criteria in determining appro¬priate placement. Evaluation must be done by a multidisciplinary team including at least one teacher or other specialist with knowledge of the area of disability. The child is assessed in all areas related to the suspected disability.
Public Law 98-524: The Vocational Education Act of 1984
Public Law 98-524, often referred to as the Carl D. Perkins Act, was passed by Congress and signed into law on October 19,1984.K was designed to ensure that individuals who are inadequately served under vocational education programs—especially individuals who are disadvantaged or with physical disabilities, men and women entering non-traditional occupations, adults in need of training and retraining, single parents or homemakers, individuals with limited English proficiency, and individuals incarcer¬ated in correctional institutions—receive proper services. The law extends the provi¬sions of the Vocational Education Act of 1963 by mandating vocational assessment, counseling, support, and transitional services for students identified as being disabled and disadvantaged. “Disadvantaged” was limited to economic and academic, rather than cultural, factors. It was reauthorized as the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education Act of 1990 (Public Law 101-392).
Public Law 99-457: Amendment to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1975
Public Law 99-457 is an amendment to Public Law 94-142, the Individuals with Dis¬abilities Education Act, that extends the right to a free and appropriate education to all children age 3 and above. The law allows states to develop early intervention ser¬vices for children with developmental delays. Each family involved in the program must have an individualized family service plan (IFSP).
Public Law 101-476: Education of the Handicapped Act of 1990
Public Law 101-476, the Education of the Handicapped Act Amendments of 1990,was signed into law on October 30,1990, and was later renamed the Individuals with Dis¬abilities Education Act (IDEA). This public law replaced the word “handicapped” with the word “disabled” and expanded services for these students. IDEA reaffirms PL 94-142′s requirements of a free, appropriate public education through an individual¬ized education program (IEP) with related services and due process procedures. The act focuses on helping youth with disabilities in the transition from school to voca¬tional rehabilitation, employment, postsecondary education, work, or adult services. Parents have access to all relevant records concerning the identification, evaluation, and educational placement of the child. Parents also have the opportunity to obtain their own independent educational evaluation of the child.
Public Law 101-336: Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
Public Law 101-336, or the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), was passed by Con¬gress and signed into law on July 26,1990. The law broadly expands the civil rights laws that apply to women and minorities to more than 43 million Americans who have some form of disability. The law has certain provisions related to testing. Under the reasonable accommodations section it states:
A private entity offering an examination is responsible for selecting and administering the examination in a place and manner that ensures that the examination accurately reflects an individual’s aptitude and achievement level, or other factors Ac examination purports to measure, rather than reflecting an individual’s impaired sensory, manual, or speaking skills, except where those skills are factors that the examination purports to measure.
The test must assess an essential requirement of the job. The test would be invalid if the particular disability would adversely affect test performance on an employment test Accommodating individuals with disabilities is not necessarily a simple process. Fischer (1994) points out that to comply with ADA, individually modified forms of the standard instrument must be prepared to accommodate an examinee with a disability. Although the ADA requires reasonable accommodation, the code of ethics and stan¬dards for testing requires a much higher standard if the resulting test scores are to be meaningful (Fischer, 1994, p. 23).
Public Law 107-110: No Child Left Behind Act of 2001
No Child Left Behind (NCLB) contained the most sweeping changes to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) since it was enacted in 1965. It changed the fed¬eral government’s role in K-12 education by requiring America’s schools to describe their success in terms of what each student accomplishes. The act contained four ba¬sic education reform principles: stronger accountability, increased flexibility and local control, expanded options for parents, and an emphasis on teaching methods that have been proven to work. NCLB significantly raises expectations for states, local school systems, and individual schools in that all students are expected to meet or ex¬ceed state standards in reading and mathematics within 12 years. NCLB requires all states to establish state academic standards and a state testing system that meet fed¬eral requirements.
As a result of NCLB, states have created policies to reward schools that score well on high-stakes tests. Merit-based awards, clear accountability and public visibility, and financial incentives for educators are purported benefits of high-stakes tests. Yet, many criticize the use of these tests ia education (discussed in Chapter 16).
EMPLOYMENT LAWS
Title VII of the Civic Rights Act of 1964, as amended in 1972,1978, and 1991,outlaws discrimination in employment based on race, color, religion, gender, pregnancy, or na¬tional origin. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 outlaws discrimi¬nation against those who are 40 and above. The Equal Pay Act of 1967 outlaws discrimination in pay based on the gender of the worker, and the Vietnam Era Veter¬ans Readjustment Act of 1974 outlaws discrimination against Vietnam-era veterans.
The Tower Amendment to the Equal Employment Act (1966) provides that an employer may give and act upon the results of any professionally developed ability test provided that such test is not designed, intended, or used to discriminate because of race. “Professionally developed ability test” is defined as a test that fairly measures the knowledge or skills required by the particular job or class of jobs sought by the ap¬plicant or that fairly affords the employer a chance to measure the applicant’s ability to perform a particular job or class of jobs (Equal Employment Opportunity Commis¬sion [EEOC], 1966).
As noted, the amended Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlaws discrimination in em¬ployment based on race, gender, religion, and national origin. In 1970 the EEOC rede¬fined discrimination in terms ot’ the effects of selection procedures resulting in adverse impact. Any paper-and-pencil or performance measure—including all formal, scored, qualified, or standardized techniques—used as a basis for an employment de¬cision that adversely affects hiring, promotion, transfer, or any other employment or membership opportunity of classes protected by Title VII constitutes discrimination unless the test has been validated and evidences a high degree of utility and the per¬son giving or acting on the results can demonstrate that alternative suitable hiring, transfer, or promotion procedures are unavailable.
The Civil Rights Act of 1991 prohibits score adjustment or differential test cutoffs by race. Congress viewed score adjustment as violating the principle of fairness.
COURT DECISIONS ON EDUCATIONAL TESTING
The following are a few of the major court decisions on the use of testing in education:
• Larry P. v. Riles (1974, 1979, 1984) involved as plaintiffs Black elementary school students from the San Francisco United school district who claimed that they had been improperly placed in classes for the educable mentally re¬tarded (EMR). The placement had been made on the basis of their scores on an intelligence test that they claimed was inappropriate for use with Black students. The district EMR students were 28.5% White and 66% Black. The court concluded that the schools had been using an inappropriate test for the placement of Blacks in EMR programs and that the test could not be used. In the future, the school would have to submit a written statement declaring that tests were not discriminatory and had been validated for EMR placement decisions, and provide the statistics on the scores of both White and Black students.
• Diana v. California State Board of Education (1973,1979) concerned the ap¬propriate use of intelligence tests with Mexican American students. These students tended to score poorly and were placed in EMR classes. The out of court agreement required the schools to test students both in their first language and in English and restricted the administration of many of the verbal sections of the tests.
• Debra P. v. Turlington (1979,1981,1983,1984) questioned the fairness of the Florida State Student Assessment Test. The plaintiffs, 10 African American stu¬dents, argued that they had been denied due process because they had not been given adequate time to prepare for the test and that the test was used to segregate students by race. The court found the test was not discriminatory. The court concluded that it was the responsibility of the school system when using a test for granting high school diplomas to show that the test covers only material that was actually taught to the students.
• Sbarif v. New York State Educational Department (1989) concerned the use of Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores as the sole basis for awarding state merit scholarships. The plaintiffs claimed that the state was discriminating against girls who were competing for the award. The court ruled that New York could not use the SAT scores alone as a basis for awarding scholarships and needed to have other criteria such as grades or statewide achievement test data.
COURT DECISIONS ON EMPLOYMENT TESTING
Following are some of the major court decisions related to tests and testing practices:
• United States v. Georgia Power (1973) first acknowledged the possibility of the unreliability of differential validity.
• Griggs v. Duke Power Company (1971) decided that Duke Power violated Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act by requiring a high school diploma and two written tests of applicants for jobs as laborers. The U.S. Supreme Court held that Duke’s standardized testing requirement prevented a dispropor¬tionate number of African American employees from being hired by, and ad¬vancing to higher-paying departments within, the company. “Business necessity” was the basis for assessing the legality of such work standards, and in this case, diplomas and cognitive ability were not necessary to do the work required by the positions. The court, however, did not specifically define “business necessity.”
• Washington v. Davis (1976) accepted a selection rule with an adverse impact because the test predicted final marks in police training and was a logical cri¬terion measure.
• Bekke v. California (1978) struck down the quota system for minority groups in professional schools.
• Golden Rule Insurance Company v. Richard L Mathias (1980) focused on the out-of-court agreement between the Educational Testing Service (ETS) and the Golden Rule Insurance Company. The plaintiffs claimed that the test developed by ETS used to license insurance agents was not job related and unfairly dis¬criminated against Blacks.
• Contreras v. City of Los Angeles (1981) held that the employer’s burden is sat¬isfied by showing it used professionally acceptable methods and that the test was predictive or significantly correlated with important elements of work be¬havior that comprised or were relevant to the job.
• Berkman v. City of New York (1987) struck down an arbitrary conversion process to enhance scores for female firefighter applicants even though the un¬derlying tests did not predict job performance.
• Watson v. Fort Worth Bank and Trust (1988) ruled that adverse impact does not apply to subjective criteria. The plaintiff must identify a specific criterion as producing an adverse impact and show reliable and probative statistical ev¬idence to support an inference of discrimination. The employer needs only to offer a legitimate business reason for the criterion. Employers are not required, even when defending standardized tests, to introduce formal validation studies showing that particular criteria predict actual on-the-job performance.
Ward Cover Packing Co. v. Antonio (1989) reversed the impact of Griggs v. Duke Power (1971). A much more conservative Supreme Court agreed that, yes, employment tests must be substantially job-related, but that employers could require tests that went beyond what was essential for the job as part of “business necessity.” In partial response to this decision, the Civil Rights Act of 1991 was passed and restored the definition of “business necessity” to what it had been and did not permit it to mean more than it had in the past. The term is still unclear; does “business necessity” mean the minimum necessary to do the job, or does it mean employers may require somewhat more than that, or does it mean the employer may test to find the best that the employer can get?
QUESTIONS AND PROCEDURES
Cronbach (1994) identified three crucial questions that need to be considered in us¬ing tests in employment contexts:
1. Can an adverse impact be shown such as a greater rejection rate for eligible Blacks than for eligible Whites?
2. Is the selection rule valid? Was it used as the basis of selection for the job? Are the criterion, content, and construct validity ratings available?
3. Can an alternative selection procedure be used that has less impact?
The Golden Rule Procedure, named for the court case described earlier, calls for simple but specifically prescribed procedures for item analysis and item selection, as well as monitoring the results of the testing program for minority groups. Ethnic and racial data are collected on the candidates who take a test, and analysis of the test items is completed separately by race or ethnic group and educational level. The per¬centage of each group passing the items is used to classify the test items. Items for which the correct-answer rates of ethnic or minority groups and White examinees are most similar have priority for inclusion on the test. The procedure calls for on¬going analysis of the test items and emphasizes keeping the reading level no higher than grade 12 ability.
CURRENT TRENDS AND PERSPECTIVES
Employers, are showing increased sensitivity in how they use tests for hiring pur¬poses; they do not want to be charged with discrimination and unfair practices. Be¬cause employers must go through elaborate validation and documentation, procedures when they use tests for selection purposes, the use of tests for employ¬ment purposes has declined. However, the use of tests for certification and licensing purposes has increased. Tenopyr (1981) concludes that employment testing has been surrounded by a storm of controversy because of its association with the civil rights movement. She points out that there are problems with fairness models because employers cannot afford to use dif¬ferent tests for various subgroups or interpret tests differently for each group.
Counselors should be alert to legal and ethical standards at all times. Figure 7.1 presents a legal/ethical checklist.
I have the educational and experiential background to administer the tests I have selected to use. The tests are valid for the purposes I identified. I have sufficient information about examinees’ cultural, linguistic, social, and educational backgrounds. I have received informed consent from clients if of age. I have received informed consent from minors’ parents or guardians. I have discussed the reasons for the test with clients. The clients see the value of the testing. I have explained the limitations of the tests to be given. I have discussed how the test results will be used. I have discussed how the data will be stored and who will have access to the data. I will promise to seek written approval to share confidential information. I will provide feedback in language that each client can understand.
Figure 7.1
SUMMARY
For the past three decades, employment and school testing have been the focus of con¬troversy. Laws and court decisions have had an impact on testing practice. The overall effect has been fairer tests and testing practices for minority groups. The role of tests is constantly being redefined by the courts. Helping professionals need to be guided by the code of ethics of their organization, be familiar with the laws and court inter¬pretations, and be careful, critical consumers of assessment practices and procedures.
Codes of ethics and standards of practice are essential elements of fair testing. There are similarities among the codes. Some of the common principles are compe¬tence, integrity, treating clients with respect and dignity, accepting responsibility, and concern for the welfare of others.
Those involved in testing need to have competency in administering the test selected, provide an explanation for using the test, and discuss the test results in a language test takers can understand. They must get informed consent prior to administering the test. Counselors need to be familiar with techniques and procedures that are appropriate for use with clients from other ethnic and cultural groups. Coun¬selors also need to be aware of and respect the beliefs, attitudes, knowledge, and skills of all clients they work with. This requires counselors to understand their own as¬sumptions, biases, and values.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1. Many employment test experts believe that the guidelines from the courts and legislature are outdated and make costly demands on employers that are not jus¬tified by the latest research. Do you agree or disagree with this position? Why?
2. Do you think that equity for minority group members can be obtained through item selection by test makers following the Golden Rule Procedure? Is the pro¬cedure a threat to the validity of the test? Why or why not?
3. Are codes of ethics something every group advocates but few members follow?
4. What position would you take if your code of professional ethics conflicted with a recent court ruling?
5. Do you feel ethical behavior is more situation-specific than a general trait? Explain.
SUGGESTED ACTIVITIES
1. Make a content analysis of two or three of the codes of ethics as they relate to test¬ing. How are they alike? How are they different?
2. Stage a mock trial on one of the major issues in testing such as due process, ap¬propriateness of certain tests for a particular function, misuse of tests, appropri¬ateness of a certain test for a minority group member, and the like.
3. Discuss some of the cases presented in the section on responsible test use.
4. Research to see if any cases in your local court system have involved testing issues.
5. Study the following cases and answer the questions at the end of each.
A private liberal arts college was working toward getting regional accreditation. The school had usually admitted a large percentage of students from the bottom half of their high school class, including any student who had a 2.0 grade point average (GPA) on a 4.0 scale. The college did not require the SAT or ACT. The admissions committee was under pressure to increase the academic respectability of the college by changing the standards to require scores of 400 on both the verbal and quantitative sections of the SAT. The committee was told that enrollment would increase if the school used an established assessment test and that fewer students would drop cut.
a. What are the testing issues in the situation?
b. What factors or testing practices are involved?
c. If you were a consultant invited by the college to help the admissions committee in the selection and retention of students, what would you advise?
To remain competitive, Memorial Hospital has decided it needs to cut its budget by down¬sizing semiskilled workers such as orderlies, custodians, cafeteria personnel, stockroom clerks, fileroom clerks, and so on. The hospital would like to help these workers qualify for higher-level jobs so that they can remain with the organization. From the attrition rate, the hospital administrators know they will need workers with advanced technical skills and will have to recruit from me outside to fill these positions if they have no one qualified internally. The personnel department has decided to give all the targeted workers who will lose their positions the Wide Range Achievement Test and the. Wonderlic Personnel Test and select those with the highest scores to be retrained. Of the workers, 80% are women and minority group members.
a. What are the ethical and legal issues related to this case?
b. What testing factors are involved?
c. If you were a consultant hired by the hospital to help identify workers to be retrained and do outplacement counseling for those who are to be let go, what would you ad¬vise Memorial to do?

ADDITIONAL READINGS

American Psychological Association.(l99y).Responsible test use; Case studies for assessing hu¬man behavior. Washington, DC: Test User Training Work Group of the Joint Committee on Testing Practices.
Contains 78 cases to train professionals to use tests wisely. Cases arc from seven different settings, ranging from counseling to speech-language-hearing contexts, and cover 86 ele-ment5 of proper test use.
American Psychological Association. (2001). Sights and responsibilities of test takers: Guide¬lines. Washington, DC: Author.
Topics related to test construction, test selection, test administration, and test administra¬tion are illustrated.
American Psychological Association. (2002). Ethics code. Available at bttpy/uww.apa.ofg/ethics/.

Bond, T. (2000). Standards and ethics far counselling in action (2nded.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Part 2 of the book covers topics related to the client such as counseling competency and avoiding exploitation of clients.

Cronbach, L J. (1994). Essentials for psychological testing (3rd ed.). New Yolfc Harper & Row.

National Board for Certified Counselors. (1998). NBCCcode of ethics. (Approved 1997). Greens¬boro, NC: Author:

National Council on Measurement in Education. (1995). Code of professional responsibilities in educational measurement Washington, DC: Author.

Paniagua, f. A. (1998). Assessing and treating culturally diverse clients (2nd cd.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Contains chapters on guidelines for and treatment of African Americans.Hispanics, Asians, and American Indians. There is a chapter on using culturally biased instruments.

Remiey, T. P., & Heriihy, B. (2005).Ethical, legal, and professional issues in counseling (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill/Prentice Hall.

Sue, D. W (Ed.). (1998). Multicultural counseling competencies. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Addresses topics such as multicultural evaluation and multicultural counseling.

s

Career Counselors in Private Practice:

Counseling, Coaching, Consulting, and Beyond

Private practice is about offering career development services to earn money. Most practitioners work in educational or governmental agencies for a salary. Career counselors who choose private practice do so for a variety of reasons, including the opportunity to manage their own careers and ‘increase their earnings. Some career counselors want to establish relatively limited part-time practices in their homes, whereas others aspire to the devel­opment of a multifaceted consulting firm that offers an array of services to the public. Regardless of the goal, establishing a private practice depends on the practitioner’s ability to market the services she or he is offering. In this chapter some of the services that can be marketed are discussed and some of the rudi­mentary aspects of establishing a private practice outlined. One service that has not been discussed elsewhere, career coaching, is discussed in this chapter. It is relatively new and, for reasons that will be obvious, controversial.

Literally thousands of counselors, psychologists, social workers, and other mental health professionals in private practice are delivering a variety of mental health services. It is likely that a few hundred of these professionals, primarily counselors and counseling psychologists, provide career counsel­ing services to the public. It is also likely that this number will grow because adults in our society seem to be relying increasingly on career counselors for assistance. Two recent surveys indicate that between 31 and 39 percent of adults surveyed had, at some time in their lives, consulted a professional career counselor in a school or college about career choices. However, the answer to one question in­cluded in the survey (Hoyt & Lester. 1995; NCDA, 1999) is more enlightening when considering the matter of private practice. Adults surveyed were asked whether they had ever visited a “fee-charging career counseling agency” to consider their career choices. Almost 9 percent of the respondents responded affirmatively. This means that approximately 11 million adults have paid to receive some type of assistance with their careers. Because of the number of people changing jobs voluntarily and involuntarily, it seems likely that increasing numbers of people will seek assistance from private practitioners in the future.

Qualifications

It is important to note that many states have licensure, certification, and registry laws that regulate the practice of psychologists, counselors, social workers, and others. For example, all 50 states have licensure laws for psychologists, and ap­proximately 48 have licensure laws or some form of regulatory statute for counselors. For the most part, the licensure laws for psychologists require that people who pur­port to be psychologists must be licensed whether they practice in public institutions or are engaged in private practice. However, the statutes for counselors are primarily aimed at regulating practice in the private domain.

As of this writing, only California and Nevada provide no protection for people who seek any type of counseling service because they have failed to adopt counselor licensure laws. States that have licensing laws regulating the title only afford little. protection for consumers. In these states people may provide career development services as long as they do not call themselves counselors. This opens the door to. some poorly qualified persons calling themselves career coaches and career develop­ment specialists and offering a wide variety of services to the public. Fortunately, many states, such as Idaho, North Carolina, Florida, Texas, Ohio, Virginia, and oth­ers, have adopted regulatory statutes that limit both title and practice. These states have included career counseling as a service that should be offered only by licensed professional counselors or other licensed professionals. Ideally, all states will adopt this provision in the future.

Guidelines for Consumers

Caveat emptor, or “let the consumer beware,” is probably the best advice for consumers who are seeking assistance with career-related problems. The reason for this, as already noted, is hat in many states career counselors are unregulated by statute. To assist consumers to make wise choices, the National Career Development Association first issued consumer guidelines for selecting a career counselor in 1988 and subsequently updated them in 2001 (NCDA, 1988, 2001). These guidelines are paraphrased next, as follows.

Credentials

Career counselors should have earned graduate degrees in an appropriate mental health specialty, such as counseling, counseling psychology, or social work. As part of their training, career counselors should have completed supervised field experience that involved career counseling.

They should have appropriate work experience. They should have developed knowledge bases that support their activities as ca­reer counselors, including knowledge about career development, assessment, occupational information, employability skills, the integration of life roles, and the stresses of working, job loss, and/or career transitions.

Fees

Career counselors should have established fees and allow clients to choose services, terminate whenever they deem appropriate, and pay for only those services that have been provided.

Promises

Professional career counselors should refrain from promising careers that have higher salaries or claiming that they can provide immediate resolution to career problems.

Ethics

Career counselors follow ethical codes such as those published by the American Psychological Association or the American Counseling Association.

Even if consumers are aware of the guidelines developed by the National Career Development Association, it is likely that they may still be confused by the number of people who call themselves career counselors. For example, some job placement counselors offer resume preparation services, some outplacement counselors assist people whose jobs have been terminated to find suitable employment, and a variety of other people offer “career counseling.” Unfortunately, some of these people have little training in career counseling, whereas others may have completed a one- or two-week training course and received impressive certificates from what appear to be creditable organizations.

Career Coaching

What is career coaching, who does it, and how is the career coaching industry regu­lated? Career coaching has not been discussed in detail elsewhere in the book because it is primarily something done by private practitioners. Bench (2003) reports that the career coaching movement in this country is less than 20 years old, but in that time it has grown into a $600 million business. Currently there are thousands of career coaches at work in this country and abroad. As Bench notes, it is impossible to determine the exact number of career coaches at work in this country because no license or certificate is required to be a coach. This lack of regulation has caused some professional career counselors to speak of career coaching in pejorative terms. Also, because much career counseling occurs via the telephone, some career counselors have questioned its validity. Other career counselors have simply added career coaching to their repertoire of skills and to their practices. Because most career counselors are already skilled in the development of career plans and job hunt skills, which is one major role filled by career coaches, they need to learn performance enhancement (level 1 skills in Table 16.1) and other job coaching skills. Because the practice of career coaching is unregulated, there is nothing other than ethical guidelines that preclude career counselors from adding coach to their titles. In the next chapter the matter of ethics is considered in detail.

What are the skills of the career coach other than facilitating career decision making and developing employability skills? Bench (2003) has developed one model of coaching, which she terms QuantumShift! Coaching (QSC). QSC has as its goal helping clients “leap” to an authentic career, which is a career that corresponds to their core belief systems. According to Bench, career coaching can be viewed as occurring at three levels; level 1 is aimed at changing behavior and improving performance. This is very similar to managerial coaching, which was mentioned in Chapter 15. Level 2 coaching involves the belief system and the unconscious motivators of the client, and level 3 addresses the identity of the individual and is aimed at a change in self-perception, an identity transformation. Bench identified the skills needed in general and at each of these stages as shown in Table 16.1

Bench (2003) indicates that there are more than 120 coaching training programs in existence and in all likelihood the number is growing. CareerTrainer, a publishing and consulting firm headed by Richard Knowdell, operates a program for job and ca­reer transition coaches. Knowdell, who is a National Certified Career Counselor, leads the three-day certification workshop. The agenda for the workshop is as follows:

• Changes in the World of Work, the Composition and Configuration of Jobs, Careers Paths in the Twenty-First Century, the Important Impact of Emotions, and Job and Career Transitions

• Career Assessment Tools

• How to Focus on an Immediate Job Objective or a Long-Term Career Goal

• Building and Managing a Career Strategy Plan

• The Coach as ASSESSOR

• The Coach as INFORMATION PROVIDER

• The Coach as REFERRAL AGENT

• The Coach as GUIDE

• The Coach as TUTOR

• Introduction to Job Search Techniques

For more information go to www.careertrainer.com. Other career coaching cer­tification programs require self-directed study and from 12 to 250 hours of docu­mented coaching (see www.careercoachinstitute.com). Marcia Bench also offers an online program for dealing with building a private practice involving coaching at www.6figurecoach.com and numerous publications through her publishing com­pany CTS.

Establishing a Private Practice

Almost everyone who has been involved in setting up a private practice will attest to the difficulty involved in the process, particularly if the practitioner chooses not to join a group practice where referrals are immediately available from other professionals. Many psychologists and counselors who enter private practice enter a group practice, and then choose to offer both personal and career counseling. Often they find that their group practice colleagues refer their “career cases” to them because they lack the skill to provide the service themselves. Other career counselors choose to set up independent practices and offer only career development services. In this section some general concerns regarding establishing a private practice are discussed.

Types of Services

Career counselors often offer a wide variety of services, including career counseling with individuals and groups, consultations, job placement, testing, outplacement, resume development and the development of other employability skills, career coach­ing, retirement planning, career/life-role integration counseling, spousal relocation, training, program evaluation, work adjustment counseling, and vocational appraisal services. Because marketing is a critical part of a successful private practice, practi­tioners must realistically determine whether they have the skills to offer a service and whether that service has a market. The following are potential clients for each of the aforementioned services:

Service, Potential Clients. Individual and group career counseling: The general public; may target specialized groups, such as transitional workers, women, or retirees. Testing/assessment : The general public; may target high school students doing career planning or other groups. Outplacement : Business and industry involved in reducing their workforce and seeking placement services; often specialize in white-collar workers. Job placement : The general public; some agencies specialize in cleri­cal, technical, or other types of workers. Headhunters : A specialized form of job placement; often involves recruiting and placing corporate executives, school superintendents, scientists. Resume and employability skills development : General public; often targets young workers (e.g., college students), workers in transition, and those who have lost their jobs. Retirement planning : Workers preparing for retirement; may target military or other people from a specific industry. Career coaching : Individuals who wish to make career decisions or improve performance at work; assist clients in de­veloping plans and supporting their efforts to imple­ment those plans. Career/life-role integration : General public; may target workers at midlife or new entrants to labor force. Training : Other professionals who want to upgrade their skills in various areas; may target those interested in set­ting up a private practice. Consultation : Businesses, governmental agencies, schools, colleges and universities, federal programs (e.g.. Job Training Partnership Act). Career development program evaluation : Businesses, governmental agencies, schools, colleges and universities, federal programs with career development programs. Work adjustment counseling : The general public; on a contract basis to businesses. Spousal relocation : Businesses; primarily those businesses interested in transferring executives who have employed spouses who are seeking careers. Vocational appraisal : Social Security Administration; insurance companies; others interested in establishing extent of vocational disability. Career information: Develop customized information packets for clients who do not wish to pursue information independently

In addition to determining whether they have the skills to offer a service and whether a client group is available in their area, practitioners must assess the degree of competition. For example, outplacement has become highly competitive, and large outplacement firms, such as Drake Beam Marin, not only have well-developed outplacement programs but also have a national network of offices that can be called on to assist workers in finding jobs in a wide variety of job markets. These same firms often offer a spousal relocation service flint is not only lucrative but also helps them establish corporate contacts. Only a few individuals can compete with the large outplacement firms. However, a number of career counselors have developed outplacement services for small companies in areas where relocation does not entail extensive geographic moves.

Location of the Office

Many private practitioners find it convenient and less expensive to use portions of their residences for their offices. Obviously, this eliminates commuting, rental fees, janitorial services, and so on. Some parking must be provided i”or clients, and this may become a major issue in some areas, particularly if group counseling is provided for 8 to 12 clients at a time. Using one’s residence as a business office is impossible in some residential areas because of zoning restrictions.

Many counselors locate offices in settings that cater to professionals because of accessibility; the availability of parking; opportunities to share services, such as re­ceptionist, telephone answering, and perhaps billing services with other professionals;

as well as opportunities to increase the likelihood of referrals. An office located in a professional office building also helps project the professional image that many career counselors desire, particularly if they are involved with consultation in business and industry. The exact location and nature of the office depends on the types of services to be offered, costs, desire for professional image, and convenience.

Services to Be Offered

As already noted, career counselors may offer a variety of services to the public. The backbone of most private practices is career counseling, but many practitioners are engaged in many other services. Although it is probably true that many private practitioners simply begin their businesses and let them evolve, a careful plan should be developed to offer services and market them to the public.

In deciding what services to offer, the following questions should be posed (Ridgewood Financial Institute, 1995). First: Am 1 really in business? It is certainly the case that many private practitioners hedge on this question simply because their private practice is a part-time practice. Before deciding what type of services are to be offered, the response to this question must be in the affirmative and must be fol­lowed by some obvious questions: If I am in business, what business am I in? Will I specialize in career counseling? If yes, which services will I offer? Are any under-served groups present in my community? Are career development service;; being of­fered that could be offered more effectively? At less cost? Once private practitioners decide that they are really in business, that their private practice is really more than a hobby, and that they can offer effective services, it is time to ask a series of other questions.

Chief among the other questions to be answered is, Am 1 projecting the right image (Ridgewood Financial Institute, 1995)? It is certainly possible to build a suc­cessful private practice that specializes in career counseling operating out of an office in the home. It is less likely that a private practitioner can build a highly successful consultation or outplacement service from a home office, primarily because of the need to establish an image that will attract potential clients. For example, it may be difficult for a corporate executive to have confidence that a “shoestring” operation can provide services to 20 executives who need to be relocated because their jobs have been terminated. In real estate, there are three rules for selecting property: location, location, location. In private practice, particularly if there is an expectation of com­peting with well-established outplacement and corporate counseling firms, the three rules may well be image, image, image. Credentials, office space, stationery, business cards, personal dress and demeanor, and written and verbal presentations are all part of one’s business image and must be attended to in building a practice.

To assess image, compare facilities, equipment, stationery, dress, and so on, to those of the competition and ask. Which would I choose? Some potential private practitioners, after making this comparison, decide to join group practices so that they can learn to project the “right” image. Others elect not to compete for business in certain arenas.

In the following section, marketing a private practice is discussed. However, in assessing whether to start or expand a current practice, the question arises: Do I know how to market my current services, or if I elect, to expand a new service (Ridgewood Financial Institute, 1995)? There are literally dozens of ways to market services. Private practitioners must be aware of these and, perhaps more importantly, be ap­prised of which ones are actually cost effective. If knowledge of marketing strategies and their effectiveness is not developed, marketing consultants may be contacted.

Ultimately a business plan must be developed with specific objectives. Marketing, selection of office space, image, and a host of other decisions and activities grow out of the objectives that are established.

Marketing the Service

Most career counselors working in public institutions are aware of the need to market their programs, but because they are paid regularly by a public or private institu­tion, the immediate need to market is less pressing. Private practitioners are paid by their clients, thus no clients—no income. This is precisely the reason why many private practitioners start working in institutional settings, initiate part-time private practices, gradually expand their practices, and once a client base is built, sever their relationships with their employers. These successful private practitioners have learned to market their services successfully. Many strategies can be employed to market career development services. But before any strategy is employed, the first step is to get comfortable with the idea of advertising. Many counselors who have worked in public institutions have an aversion to advertising (Ridgewood Financial Institute, 1995) because it almost seems unprofessional. Advertising is legal, it is professional, and it is essential to the establishment and maintenance of your private practice. Obviously, advertisements should be tastefully done, but there are no limitations on where they can be placed. Newspapers, newsletters, magazine ads, billboards, television and radio spots, and posters are a few of the potential ways to advertise a service. Another way to advertise your service is a tasteful brochure that outlines your services and solicits business (see Figure 16.1).

One of the best types of advertisements is the non-ad. One psychologist in private practice writes regularly for an airlines magazine. Because of the exposure he has re­ceived, he is invited to conduct more than 100 workshops per year. Another prepares a weekly column for a local newspaper. Still others serve in high-visibility volunteer positions where their names are frequently mentioned in local news media. Making appearances at several clubs, parent groups, and professional associations to discuss career counseling and development is -mother non-ad marketing strategy employed by many practitioners. To use this strategy effectively, the private practitioner must have good public speaking skills and must be able to project a professional image. Name recognition is an important part of marketing any service, and depending on the non-ad activity, the service provided can help build the desired image.

A marketing campaign may begin with non-ads, but soon a target group must be developed, a list of the strategies to be employed must be compiled, an advertising budget must be developed, and an advertising calendar must be laid out. This campaign can be tied to the services being offered. For example, a private practitioner might decide to run weekly advertisements in the local newspaper to publicize a resume development service in January through May, because many high school and college students are beginning the job hunt at this time. These advertisements might be supple­mented with posters placed in dormitories and on high school bulletin boards. The following are tips from successful practitioners about marketing a private practice.

Private career counseling demands flexibility on the part of the owner/counselor along with creativity since private practice income fluctuates. Career counseling expertise needs to be marketed to several sectors other than private clients. Seminars, consulting, writing newspaper columns, teaching, and outreach counseling for nonprofit groups are necessary in order to advertise the practice, “grow the business,” and make an adequate income (Joan F. Youngblood, Creative Career Counseling).

In order to make a private career counseling practice thrive, you need to attract clients. Advertising and publicity are two ways of attracting clients. Know the difference between advertising and publicity. Advertising costs you money. Publicity brings you money.

To get your private career counseling practice going (i.e., making money), you will need to spend up to 50 percent of your time in marketing and sales activities. Marketing and sales are not like counseling activities. If marketing and sales are not activities that you enjoy, you should think long and hard about spending so much time in an activity that you don’t like. Think about this—Would you advise a client to spend 50 percent of his or her time in an activity that the client dislikes? (Richard L. Knowdell, National Certified Career Counselor).

Networking and visibility within the communities you are planning to serve is essential. Because counselors are often uncomfortable doing marketing, they often do too little to promote themselves. Referrals come from a broad marketing campaign, encompassing contact development with friends, colleagues, and other professionals who potentially serve your client profile in other capacities. Initially, 50 percent of your time should be spent in marketing activities to generate referrals and a client base. Advertising, work­shops, and community service are other techniques chat are essential in your marketing plan to increase credibility and visibility as an expert in your field. (Barbara Tartaglione, Career Connection).

Networking is a process by which counselors interact with other professionals for the purpose of gaining access to business opportunities and/or referrals. Career counselors often attend local, regional, and statewide professional meetings for counselors to develop and reinforce their own expertise and to enhance the likelihood that clients will be referred to them by other professionals. Career counselors who offer consultation to business and industry should probably extend their networking to organizations such as the American Society for Training and Development along with local meetings of counselors and psychologists because people employed in local businesses belong to this association.

Direct solicitation of services via mail, telephone, or personal contact is also a method of gaining clients, particularly if consultation services are offered. These types of contacts can also be used to extend networks and perhaps gain referrals for other services offered, such as career counseling. Some career counselors believe that the best contacts are made in informal meetings, such as over lunch. Although no data supports this supposition, the business lunch seems to be widely employed as a marketing strategy.

All forms of advertisement should adhere to the ethical guidelines of the prac­titioner’s profession. Generally speaking, advertisements may contain a list of the person’s highest relevant degree, licenses and certifications, and professional services offered. Advertisements may not include endorsements for past clients and may not make claims of likely success, even if these statements do represent facts (NBCC, 1996). Sample advertisements are shown in Figure 16.2.

It is also worth noting that networking strategies, advertisements, pu’u'uc ap­pearances, direct solicitations, and other marketing strategies, although they do yield immediate results, do not necessarily result in great numbers of clients or multiple offers to engage in lucrative counseling jobs. The marketing of a private practice can take months and perhaps years. Moreover, marketing never stops. Clients terminate and consultation contracts end. To continue to earn, clients must be found and new contracts negotiated. Marketing may become easier, but it always remains an essential task for private practitioners.

Budgeting

A private practice is a for-profit business that requires a great deal of plan­ning, including the development of a careful budget. Table 16.2 shows a budget planning sheet utilized by Frank Karpati of Career Directions.

It is also imperative that careful logs be kept for income tax purposes; many commercially developed log books are available. Any type of record, including or­dinary date books, will suffice as long as the records are backed up by receipts for all expenses. In determining whether a deduction is legitimate, the IRS expects the taxpayer to establish a clear relationship between the expense and the business. An emergency room physician successfully argued that a garage door opener allowed him to get to emergencies sooner. A noted speaker who gives 100 to 150 speeches per year also argued that a Jacuzzi was essential to help him deal with the stresses of travel. However, both cases are on the “fringes of acceptability” and might have been disallowed by another auditor. Entertainment, travel, meals, equipment pur­chases, furniture, malpractice insurance, and continuing education are all legitimate expenses if records are kept properly. However, a consultation with a knowledgeable accountant may be the first step to take in setting up a private practice, and continuing consultation regarding the legitimacy of expenses may be the best means of avoiding problems with the IRS.

Fees

The guideline established for fee setting by the National Board of Certified Counselors (1996) suggests that the career counselor must take into account the financial status of the client. Although this is the guideline most practitioners adhere to, it does not answer the. question: Assuming that the client has adequate financial resources, what should I charge? There are several possible answers to this question. One of the most common ways of setting fees in career counseling is to look at the fees of competitors. and establish a commensurate fee schedule (Ridgewood Financial Institute, 1995).. Another is to set fees in accordance with those being charged for psychotherapy,. apparently based on the assumption that the practitioner’s time and services are as’ valuable as those of the psychotherapist. A common fee-setting strategy is to charge less for group counseling than for individual counseling. Unfortunately, no data provides definitive answers to the question: What are career counselors charging for various services?

Fees range from $75 to $200 per hour and beyond are charged by various mental health practitioners for psychotherapy. As suggested earlier, some practitioners gear their fee structure to that of psychotherapy. Most clients are probably paying $80 to $100 per hour for career counseling based on this one source. However, many career counselors also charge assessment fees for interest inventories, personality assess­ments, and aptitude tests, and these can run to $300 and beyond in some instances.

If the data about the fees for career counseling are unclear, those regarding career development consultation are simply unavailable. Some consultants who work with business and industry to set up career development programs, to design performance appraisal systems, and to improve employee-employer relations charge $1,000 to $1,200 per day based on private feedback to the authors. However, it is likely that the range of fees for consultation services is much broader—perhaps ranging from $500 to $5,000 per day, depending on the problem and the reputation of the consultant.

In addition, relatively little information about fees is available in the area of outplacement work. Outplacement firms and individual practitioners have demanded and received a fee based on the employee’s salary for three months (see Chapter 10). Therefore,, if the employee is paid $5,000 per month, the outplacement fee would be $15,000. However, these fees have been charged for outplacement of middle- and upper-management personnel. When businesses hire outplacement firms to work with blue-collar workers, the fee is typically much lower, although the number of employees is usually larger.

The fee schedule should be established at the time the service is initiated along with the method of payment. The following statement appears in the contract signed by each client of Career Directions.

Fee Schedule

The fee for a 70-120 minute consultation is $180.00 payable at the time of the conference. This fee also includes counselor research, preparation and testing services. Therefore, for the fee the client should expect to receive 1-Vz to 3 hours of professional services. Although the exact number of sessions cannot be initially determined, counseling is usually com­pleted within four to six sessions.

In order for the counseling service to maintain its ability to function and provide the services you need, it is necessary to require of all clients that they be responsible for the time set aside for their consultation. This is particularly essential since a counselor’s time

Bench, M. (2003). Career coaching: An insider’s guide. Palo Alto, CA: Davies Black.

Hoyt, K. B., & Lester, J. L. (1995). Learning to work: TheNCDA Galiup survey. Alexandria, VA:

National Career Development Association.

National Board of Certified Counselors. (1996). Certification information and application. Alexandria, VA: Author.

National Career Development Association. (1988). The professional practice of career counsel­ing and consultation: A resource document. Alexandria, VA: Author.

National Career Development Association. (1999).

Available at www.ncda.org, accessed 11/29/01. National Career Development Association. (2001).

Consumer guidelines for selecting a career

counselor. Available at www.ncda.org, accessed

12/2/01. Ridgewood Financial Institute. (1995). Guide to

private practice (2nd ed.). Hawthorne, NJ:

Author. Schutt, D. (1999). How to plan and develop a ca-,

reer center. Chicago: Ferguson.

Private practice is about offering career development services to earn money. Most practitioners work in educational or governmental agencies for a salary. Career counselors who choose private practice do so for a variety of reasons, including the opportunity to manage their own careers and ‘increase their earnings. Some career counselors want to establish relatively limited part-time practices in their homes, whereas others aspire to the devel¬opment of a multifaceted consulting firm that offers an array of services to the public. Regardless of the goal, establishing a private practice depends on the practitioner’s ability to market the services she or he is offering. In this chapter some of the services that can be marketed are discussed and some of the rudi¬mentary aspects of establishing a private practice outlined. One service that has not been discussed elsewhere, career coaching, is discussed in this chapter. It is relatively new and, for reasons that will be obvious, controversial.
Literally thousands of counselors, psychologists, social workers, and other mental health professionals in private practice are delivering a variety of mental health services. It is likely that a few hundred of these professionals, primarily counselors and counseling psychologists, provide career counsel¬ing services to the public. It is also likely that this number will grow because adults in our society seem to be relying increasingly on career counselors for assistance. Two recent surveys indicate that between 31 and 39 percent of adults surveyed had, at some time in their lives, consulted a professional career counselor in a school or college about career choices. However, the answer to one question in¬cluded in the survey (Hoyt & Lester. 1995; NCDA, 1999) is more enlightening when considering the matter of private practice. Adults surveyed were asked whether they had ever visited a “fee-charging career counseling agency” to consider their career choices. Almost 9 percent of the respondents responded affirmatively. This means that approximately 11 million adults have paid to receive some type of assistance with their careers. Because of the number of people changing jobs voluntarily and involuntarily, it seems likely that increasing numbers of people will seek assistance from private practitioners in the future.

Qualifications
It is important to note that many states have licensure, certification, and registry laws that regulate the practice of psychologists, counselors, social workers, and others. For example, all 50 states have licensure laws for psychologists, and ap¬proximately 48 have licensure laws or some form of regulatory statute for counselors. For the most part, the licensure laws for psychologists require that people who pur¬port to be psychologists must be licensed whether they practice in public institutions or are engaged in private practice. However, the statutes for counselors are primarily aimed at regulating practice in the private domain.
As of this writing, only California and Nevada provide no protection for people who seek any type of counseling service because they have failed to adopt counselor licensure laws. States that have licensing laws regulating the title only afford little. protection for consumers. In these states people may provide career development services as long as they do not call themselves counselors. This opens the door to. some poorly qualified persons calling themselves career coaches and career develop¬ment specialists and offering a wide variety of services to the public. Fortunately, many states, such as Idaho, North Carolina, Florida, Texas, Ohio, Virginia, and oth¬ers, have adopted regulatory statutes that limit both title and practice. These states have included career counseling as a service that should be offered only by licensed professional counselors or other licensed professionals. Ideally, all states will adopt this provision in the future.

Guidelines for Consumers
Caveat emptor, or “let the consumer beware,” is probably the best advice for consumers who are seeking assistance with career-related problems. The reason for this, as already noted, is hat in many states career counselors are unregulated by statute. To assist consumers to make wise choices, the National Career Development Association first issued consumer guidelines for selecting a career counselor in 1988 and subsequently updated them in 2001 (NCDA, 1988, 2001). These guidelines are paraphrased next, as follows.
Credentials
Career counselors should have earned graduate degrees in an appropriate mental health specialty, such as counseling, counseling psychology, or social work. As part of their training, career counselors should have completed supervised field experience that involved career counseling.
They should have appropriate work experience. They should have developed knowledge bases that support their activities as ca¬reer counselors, including knowledge about career development, assessment, occupational information, employability skills, the integration of life roles, and the stresses of working, job loss, and/or career transitions.
Fees
Career counselors should have established fees and allow clients to choose services, terminate whenever they deem appropriate, and pay for only those services that have been provided.

Promises
Professional career counselors should refrain from promising careers that have higher salaries or claiming that they can provide immediate resolution to career problems.

Ethics
Career counselors follow ethical codes such as those published by the American Psychological Association or the American Counseling Association.
Even if consumers are aware of the guidelines developed by the National Career Development Association, it is likely that they may still be confused by the number of people who call themselves career counselors. For example, some job placement counselors offer resume preparation services, some outplacement counselors assist people whose jobs have been terminated to find suitable employment, and a variety of other people offer “career counseling.” Unfortunately, some of these people have little training in career counseling, whereas others may have completed a one- or two-week training course and received impressive certificates from what appear to be creditable organizations.
Career Coaching
What is career coaching, who does it, and how is the career coaching industry regu¬lated? Career coaching has not been discussed in detail elsewhere in the book because it is primarily something done by private practitioners. Bench (2003) reports that the career coaching movement in this country is less than 20 years old, but in that time it has grown into a $600 million business. Currently there are thousands of career coaches at work in this country and abroad. As Bench notes, it is impossible to determine the exact number of career coaches at work in this country because no license or certificate is required to be a coach. This lack of regulation has caused some professional career counselors to speak of career coaching in pejorative terms. Also, because much career counseling occurs via the telephone, some career counselors have questioned its validity. Other career counselors have simply added career coaching to their repertoire of skills and to their practices. Because most career counselors are already skilled in the development of career plans and job hunt skills, which is one major role filled by career coaches, they need to learn performance enhancement (level 1 skills in Table 16.1) and other job coaching skills. Because the practice of career coaching is unregulated, there is nothing other than ethical guidelines that preclude career counselors from adding coach to their titles. In the next chapter the matter of ethics is considered in detail.
What are the skills of the career coach other than facilitating career decision making and developing employability skills? Bench (2003) has developed one model of coaching, which she terms QuantumShift! Coaching (QSC). QSC has as its goal helping clients “leap” to an authentic career, which is a career that corresponds to their core belief systems. According to Bench, career coaching can be viewed as occurring at three levels; level 1 is aimed at changing behavior and improving performance. This is very similar to managerial coaching, which was mentioned in Chapter 15. Level 2 coaching involves the belief system and the unconscious motivators of the client, and level 3 addresses the identity of the individual and is aimed at a change in self-perception, an identity transformation. Bench identified the skills needed in general and at each of these stages as shown in Table 16.1
Bench (2003) indicates that there are more than 120 coaching training programs in existence and in all likelihood the number is growing. CareerTrainer, a publishing and consulting firm headed by Richard Knowdell, operates a program for job and ca¬reer transition coaches. Knowdell, who is a National Certified Career Counselor, leads the three-day certification workshop. The agenda for the workshop is as follows:
• Changes in the World of Work, the Composition and Configuration of Jobs, Careers Paths in the Twenty-First Century, the Important Impact of Emotions, and Job and Career Transitions
• Career Assessment Tools
• How to Focus on an Immediate Job Objective or a Long-Term Career Goal
• Building and Managing a Career Strategy Plan
• The Coach as ASSESSOR
• The Coach as INFORMATION PROVIDER
• The Coach as REFERRAL AGENT
• The Coach as GUIDE
• The Coach as TUTOR
• Introduction to Job Search Techniques
For more information go to www.careertrainer.com. Other career coaching cer¬tification programs require self-directed study and from 12 to 250 hours of docu¬mented coaching (see www.careercoachinstitute.com). Marcia Bench also offers an online program for dealing with building a private practice involving coaching at www.6figurecoach.com and numerous publications through her publishing com¬pany CTS.

Establishing a Private Practice
Almost everyone who has been involved in setting up a private practice will attest to the difficulty involved in the process, particularly if the practitioner chooses not to join a group practice where referrals are immediately available from other professionals. Many psychologists and counselors who enter private practice enter a group practice, and then choose to offer both personal and career counseling. Often they find that their group practice colleagues refer their “career cases” to them because they lack the skill to provide the service themselves. Other career counselors choose to set up independent practices and offer only career development services. In this section some general concerns regarding establishing a private practice are discussed.
Types of Services
Career counselors often offer a wide variety of services, including career counseling with individuals and groups, consultations, job placement, testing, outplacement, resume development and the development of other employability skills, career coach¬ing, retirement planning, career/life-role integration counseling, spousal relocation, training, program evaluation, work adjustment counseling, and vocational appraisal services. Because marketing is a critical part of a successful private practice, practi¬tioners must realistically determine whether they have the skills to offer a service and whether that service has a market. The following are potential clients for each of the aforementioned services:
Service, Potential Clients. Individual and group career counseling: The general public; may target specialized groups, such as transitional workers, women, or retirees. Testing/assessment : The general public; may target high school students doing career planning or other groups. Outplacement : Business and industry involved in reducing their workforce and seeking placement services; often specialize in white-collar workers. Job placement : The general public; some agencies specialize in cleri¬cal, technical, or other types of workers. Headhunters : A specialized form of job placement; often involves recruiting and placing corporate executives, school superintendents, scientists. Resume and employability skills development : General public; often targets young workers (e.g., college students), workers in transition, and those who have lost their jobs. Retirement planning : Workers preparing for retirement; may target military or other people from a specific industry. Career coaching : Individuals who wish to make career decisions or improve performance at work; assist clients in de¬veloping plans and supporting their efforts to imple¬ment those plans. Career/life-role integration : General public; may target workers at midlife or new entrants to labor force. Training : Other professionals who want to upgrade their skills in various areas; may target those interested in set¬ting up a private practice. Consultation : Businesses, governmental agencies, schools, colleges and universities, federal programs (e.g.. Job Training Partnership Act). Career development program evaluation : Businesses, governmental agencies, schools, colleges and universities, federal programs with career development programs. Work adjustment counseling : The general public; on a contract basis to businesses. Spousal relocation : Businesses; primarily those businesses interested in transferring executives who have employed spouses who are seeking careers. Vocational appraisal : Social Security Administration; insurance companies; others interested in establishing extent of vocational disability. Career information: Develop customized information packets for clients who do not wish to pursue information independently
In addition to determining whether they have the skills to offer a service and whether a client group is available in their area, practitioners must assess the degree of competition. For example, outplacement has become highly competitive, and large outplacement firms, such as Drake Beam Marin, not only have well-developed outplacement programs but also have a national network of offices that can be called on to assist workers in finding jobs in a wide variety of job markets. These same firms often offer a spousal relocation service flint is not only lucrative but also helps them establish corporate contacts. Only a few individuals can compete with the large outplacement firms. However, a number of career counselors have developed outplacement services for small companies in areas where relocation does not entail extensive geographic moves.
Location of the Office
Many private practitioners find it convenient and less expensive to use portions of their residences for their offices. Obviously, this eliminates commuting, rental fees, janitorial services, and so on. Some parking must be provided i”or clients, and this may become a major issue in some areas, particularly if group counseling is provided for 8 to 12 clients at a time. Using one’s residence as a business office is impossible in some residential areas because of zoning restrictions.
Many counselors locate offices in settings that cater to professionals because of accessibility; the availability of parking; opportunities to share services, such as re¬ceptionist, telephone answering, and perhaps billing services with other professionals;
as well as opportunities to increase the likelihood of referrals. An office located in a professional office building also helps project the professional image that many career counselors desire, particularly if they are involved with consultation in business and industry. The exact location and nature of the office depends on the types of services to be offered, costs, desire for professional image, and convenience.
Services to Be Offered
As already noted, career counselors may offer a variety of services to the public. The backbone of most private practices is career counseling, but many practitioners are engaged in many other services. Although it is probably true that many private practitioners simply begin their businesses and let them evolve, a careful plan should be developed to offer services and market them to the public.
In deciding what services to offer, the following questions should be posed (Ridgewood Financial Institute, 1995). First: Am 1 really in business? It is certainly the case that many private practitioners hedge on this question simply because their private practice is a part-time practice. Before deciding what type of services are to be offered, the response to this question must be in the affirmative and must be fol¬lowed by some obvious questions: If I am in business, what business am I in? Will I specialize in career counseling? If yes, which services will I offer? Are any under-served groups present in my community? Are career development service;; being of¬fered that could be offered more effectively? At less cost? Once private practitioners decide that they are really in business, that their private practice is really more than a hobby, and that they can offer effective services, it is time to ask a series of other questions.
Chief among the other questions to be answered is, Am 1 projecting the right image (Ridgewood Financial Institute, 1995)? It is certainly possible to build a suc¬cessful private practice that specializes in career counseling operating out of an office in the home. It is less likely that a private practitioner can build a highly successful consultation or outplacement service from a home office, primarily because of the need to establish an image that will attract potential clients. For example, it may be difficult for a corporate executive to have confidence that a “shoestring” operation can provide services to 20 executives who need to be relocated because their jobs have been terminated. In real estate, there are three rules for selecting property: location, location, location. In private practice, particularly if there is an expectation of com¬peting with well-established outplacement and corporate counseling firms, the three rules may well be image, image, image. Credentials, office space, stationery, business cards, personal dress and demeanor, and written and verbal presentations are all part of one’s business image and must be attended to in building a practice.
To assess image, compare facilities, equipment, stationery, dress, and so on, to those of the competition and ask. Which would I choose? Some potential private practitioners, after making this comparison, decide to join group practices so that they can learn to project the “right” image. Others elect not to compete for business in certain arenas.
In the following section, marketing a private practice is discussed. However, in assessing whether to start or expand a current practice, the question arises: Do I know how to market my current services, or if I elect, to expand a new service (Ridgewood Financial Institute, 1995)? There are literally dozens of ways to market services. Private practitioners must be aware of these and, perhaps more importantly, be ap¬prised of which ones are actually cost effective. If knowledge of marketing strategies and their effectiveness is not developed, marketing consultants may be contacted.
Ultimately a business plan must be developed with specific objectives. Marketing, selection of office space, image, and a host of other decisions and activities grow out of the objectives that are established.
Marketing the Service
Most career counselors working in public institutions are aware of the need to market their programs, but because they are paid regularly by a public or private institu¬tion, the immediate need to market is less pressing. Private practitioners are paid by their clients, thus no clients—no income. This is precisely the reason why many private practitioners start working in institutional settings, initiate part-time private practices, gradually expand their practices, and once a client base is built, sever their relationships with their employers. These successful private practitioners have learned to market their services successfully. Many strategies can be employed to market career development services. But before any strategy is employed, the first step is to get comfortable with the idea of advertising. Many counselors who have worked in public institutions have an aversion to advertising (Ridgewood Financial Institute, 1995) because it almost seems unprofessional. Advertising is legal, it is professional, and it is essential to the establishment and maintenance of your private practice. Obviously, advertisements should be tastefully done, but there are no limitations on where they can be placed. Newspapers, newsletters, magazine ads, billboards, television and radio spots, and posters are a few of the potential ways to advertise a service. Another way to advertise your service is a tasteful brochure that outlines your services and solicits business (see Figure 16.1).
One of the best types of advertisements is the non-ad. One psychologist in private practice writes regularly for an airlines magazine. Because of the exposure he has re¬ceived, he is invited to conduct more than 100 workshops per year. Another prepares a weekly column for a local newspaper. Still others serve in high-visibility volunteer positions where their names are frequently mentioned in local news media. Making appearances at several clubs, parent groups, and professional associations to discuss career counseling and development is -mother non-ad marketing strategy employed by many practitioners. To use this strategy effectively, the private practitioner must have good public speaking skills and must be able to project a professional image. Name recognition is an important part of marketing any service, and depending on the non-ad activity, the service provided can help build the desired image.
A marketing campaign may begin with non-ads, but soon a target group must be developed, a list of the strategies to be employed must be compiled, an advertising budget must be developed, and an advertising calendar must be laid out. This campaign can be tied to the services being offered. For example, a private practitioner might decide to run weekly advertisements in the local newspaper to publicize a resume development service in January through May, because many high school and college students are beginning the job hunt at this time. These advertisements might be supple¬mented with posters placed in dormitories and on high school bulletin boards. The following are tips from successful practitioners about marketing a private practice.
Private career counseling demands flexibility on the part of the owner/counselor along with creativity since private practice income fluctuates. Career counseling expertise needs to be marketed to several sectors other than private clients. Seminars, consulting, writing newspaper columns, teaching, and outreach counseling for nonprofit groups are necessary in order to advertise the practice, “grow the business,” and make an adequate income (Joan F. Youngblood, Creative Career Counseling).
In order to make a private career counseling practice thrive, you need to attract clients. Advertising and publicity are two ways of attracting clients. Know the difference between advertising and publicity. Advertising costs you money. Publicity brings you money.
To get your private career counseling practice going (i.e., making money), you will need to spend up to 50 percent of your time in marketing and sales activities. Marketing and sales are not like counseling activities. If marketing and sales are not activities that you enjoy, you should think long and hard about spending so much time in an activity that you don’t like. Think about this—Would you advise a client to spend 50 percent of his or her time in an activity that the client dislikes? (Richard L. Knowdell, National Certified Career Counselor).
Networking and visibility within the communities you are planning to serve is essential. Because counselors are often uncomfortable doing marketing, they often do too little to promote themselves. Referrals come from a broad marketing campaign, encompassing contact development with friends, colleagues, and other professionals who potentially serve your client profile in other capacities. Initially, 50 percent of your time should be spent in marketing activities to generate referrals and a client base. Advertising, work¬shops, and community service are other techniques chat are essential in your marketing plan to increase credibility and visibility as an expert in your field. (Barbara Tartaglione, Career Connection).
Networking is a process by which counselors interact with other professionals for the purpose of gaining access to business opportunities and/or referrals. Career counselors often attend local, regional, and statewide professional meetings for counselors to develop and reinforce their own expertise and to enhance the likelihood that clients will be referred to them by other professionals. Career counselors who offer consultation to business and industry should probably extend their networking to organizations such as the American Society for Training and Development along with local meetings of counselors and psychologists because people employed in local businesses belong to this association.
Direct solicitation of services via mail, telephone, or personal contact is also a method of gaining clients, particularly if consultation services are offered. These types of contacts can also be used to extend networks and perhaps gain referrals for other services offered, such as career counseling. Some career counselors believe that the best contacts are made in informal meetings, such as over lunch. Although no data supports this supposition, the business lunch seems to be widely employed as a marketing strategy.
All forms of advertisement should adhere to the ethical guidelines of the prac¬titioner’s profession. Generally speaking, advertisements may contain a list of the person’s highest relevant degree, licenses and certifications, and professional services offered. Advertisements may not include endorsements for past clients and may not make claims of likely success, even if these statements do represent facts (NBCC, 1996). Sample advertisements are shown in Figure 16.2.
It is also worth noting that networking strategies, advertisements, pu’u'uc ap¬pearances, direct solicitations, and other marketing strategies, although they do yield immediate results, do not necessarily result in great numbers of clients or multiple offers to engage in lucrative counseling jobs. The marketing of a private practice can take months and perhaps years. Moreover, marketing never stops. Clients terminate and consultation contracts end. To continue to earn, clients must be found and new contracts negotiated. Marketing may become easier, but it always remains an essential task for private practitioners.
Budgeting
A private practice is a for-profit business that requires a great deal of plan¬ning, including the development of a careful budget. Table 16.2 shows a budget planning sheet utilized by Frank Karpati of Career Directions.
It is also imperative that careful logs be kept for income tax purposes; many commercially developed log books are available. Any type of record, including or¬dinary date books, will suffice as long as the records are backed up by receipts for all expenses. In determining whether a deduction is legitimate, the IRS expects the taxpayer to establish a clear relationship between the expense and the business. An emergency room physician successfully argued that a garage door opener allowed him to get to emergencies sooner. A noted speaker who gives 100 to 150 speeches per year also argued that a Jacuzzi was essential to help him deal with the stresses of travel. However, both cases are on the “fringes of acceptability” and might have been disallowed by another auditor. Entertainment, travel, meals, equipment pur¬chases, furniture, malpractice insurance, and continuing education are all legitimate expenses if records are kept properly. However, a consultation with a knowledgeable accountant may be the first step to take in setting up a private practice, and continuing consultation regarding the legitimacy of expenses may be the best means of avoiding problems with the IRS.
Fees
The guideline established for fee setting by the National Board of Certified Counselors (1996) suggests that the career counselor must take into account the financial status of the client. Although this is the guideline most practitioners adhere to, it does not answer the. question: Assuming that the client has adequate financial resources, what should I charge? There are several possible answers to this question. One of the most common ways of setting fees in career counseling is to look at the fees of competitors. and establish a commensurate fee schedule (Ridgewood Financial Institute, 1995).. Another is to set fees in accordance with those being charged for psychotherapy,. apparently based on the assumption that the practitioner’s time and services are as’ valuable as those of the psychotherapist. A common fee-setting strategy is to charge less for group counseling than for individual counseling. Unfortunately, no data provides definitive answers to the question: What are career counselors charging for various services?
Fees range from $75 to $200 per hour and beyond are charged by various mental health practitioners for psychotherapy. As suggested earlier, some practitioners gear their fee structure to that of psychotherapy. Most clients are probably paying $80 to $100 per hour for career counseling based on this one source. However, many career counselors also charge assessment fees for interest inventories, personality assess¬ments, and aptitude tests, and these can run to $300 and beyond in some instances.
If the data about the fees for career counseling are unclear, those regarding career development consultation are simply unavailable. Some consultants who work with business and industry to set up career development programs, to design performance appraisal systems, and to improve employee-employer relations charge $1,000 to $1,200 per day based on private feedback to the authors. However, it is likely that the range of fees for consultation services is much broader—perhaps ranging from $500 to $5,000 per day, depending on the problem and the reputation of the consultant.
In addition, relatively little information about fees is available in the area of outplacement work. Outplacement firms and individual practitioners have demanded and received a fee based on the employee’s salary for three months (see Chapter 10). Therefore,, if the employee is paid $5,000 per month, the outplacement fee would be $15,000. However, these fees have been charged for outplacement of middle- and upper-management personnel. When businesses hire outplacement firms to work with blue-collar workers, the fee is typically much lower, although the number of employees is usually larger.
The fee schedule should be established at the time the service is initiated along with the method of payment. The following statement appears in the contract signed by each client of Career Directions.
Fee Schedule
The fee for a 70-120 minute consultation is $180.00 payable at the time of the conference. This fee also includes counselor research, preparation and testing services. Therefore, for the fee the client should expect to receive 1-Vz to 3 hours of professional services. Although the exact number of sessions cannot be initially determined, counseling is usually com¬pleted within four to six sessions.
In order for the counseling service to maintain its ability to function and provide the services you need, it is necessary to require of all clients that they be responsible for the time set aside for their consultation. This is particularly essential since a counselor’s time

is allotted to you alone for the duration of your session, and cannot be used in any other way. In the event that illness or emergency prevents your coming for counseling, you must notify the agency at least 24 hours in advance. The counselor will be happy to discuss this matter with you at length if you deem it appropriate.
One factor that plays a major role in the establishment of fees for psychotherapy that cannot be counted on in providing reimbursement for career counseling is health insurance. Many clients who come for psychotherapy have health insurance that pays some or all of the expense of the treatment. In those instances where insurance pays a portion (80 percent) of an established fee (perhaps $70 per hour), psychothera¬pists often charge more for the service because the out-of-pocket cost to the client is not great. However, unless the client also has a mental health problem that can be treated simultaneously with the career problem, health insurance does not pay for the service. This fact alone may dictate that fees for career counseling be lower than those for psychotherapy.
Billing
One inevitable aspect of all forms of private practice is the need to collect fees. Many practitioners request that payment by check or credit card be made at the time the counseling is provided. However, whenever bills are unpaid, regardless of the cir¬cumstances, billing agencies and even collection agencies are often utilized to collect overdue accounts. The amount of money spent on collection and lost as a result of unpaid bills varies with the situation. However, bad debts are a realistic part of all business and reduce expected income.
The Ridgewood Financial Institute (1995) suggests several ways to increase pay¬ment for services. For example, collect complete information on every client, includ¬ing name, address, telephone number, and Social Security number so th-»t collection can be expedited. Perhaps more importantly, when clients fill out information forms about themselves they should also be informed of their financial obligation, how payment is expected (cash, check, or credit card), and what will happen on past-due accounts. Some practitioners charge late fee penalties, sometimes labeled business costs. Payment at time of service delivery is a means of reducing unpaid bills. This does not prevent receipt of bad checks, but it probably reduces the number of out¬standing bills to be collected.
Many practitioners have a series of “collection letters,” with the message rang¬ing from a friendly reminder that payment is past due to a warning that the bill is about to be turned over to a collection agency. The use of a collection agency is a last resort because their fees often run to 50 percent of the debt and, ultimately, many of these agencies rely on threats to credit ratings as a basic collection strategy. Finally, some practitioners bring suit in small claims courts, have office assistants telephone people in arrears, and even accept in-kind services (such as repairs to home or office) as payments. Whereas none of these methods is particularly desirable, they all result in increased income and should be considered alternative methods for increasing the profitability of the practice.
Other Business Details
The establishment of a private practice involves dealing with a host of other details including establishing a recordkeeping system, considering the possibility of using an answering service (versus an answering machine), hiring assistants and/or clerical workers, choosing an appropriate liability insurance policy, and selecting an accoun¬tant. Some of these decisions are relatively simple. For example, most practitioners purchase liability insurance from companies that offer group rates through profes¬sional associations such as the American Association for Counseling and Development and the American Psychological Association- Other decisions depend on costs, the image that is being projected, and the personal preference of the practitioner.
Developing a Testing File One detail that deserves special consideration is the establishment of a testing file. All private practitioners are faced with identifying and securing a set of tests and inventories that can be used to facilitate their clients’ career development. The first consideration in this process is to “qualify” to purchase tests. Publishing companies that produce, distribute, and in many instances score the results require that people who order tests provide proof that they are qualified by virtue of training, licensing, and/or certification to administer and interpret the tests they wish to purchase. Professional ethics also dictate that competence be considered of primary importance when using tests and inventories. Finally, the potential for malpractice suits against people who carelessly use tests and inventories is considerable.
Establishing a Career Information Center Earlier, the importance of a career information center was discussed as well as some guidelines for establishing a center. Schutt’s (1999) book How to Plan and Develop a Career Center, can also be help¬ful. However, an objective for the private ‘practitioner must be to minimize costs while providing an adequate information source to meet client needs. Answering the questions, Who are (or will be) my clients? and. What will their informational needs be? is the starting place for establishing the center. The next step is probably to determine what information can be obtained inexpensively through your state Career Information Delivery System (CIDS) and through government publications, such as the Occupational Outlook Handbook, and special publications from the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. Once this process has been com¬pleted, materials can be purchased from the numerous commercial publishers to ‘•• complete the library.
Summary
Career counseling in private practice offers a rewarding if challenging career option. However, it also requires a set of skills in addition to those taught in most graduate programs. Career counseling in private practice requires that counselors be able to conceptualize and market a business operation, which involves everything from selecting an office to designing a marketing comparison. Individuals considering this option must carefully consider whether they are equipped personally and profes¬sionally to take on such an enterprise. The professional and economic rewards are probably substantial for those who successfully develop a private practice, although, as is the case with most small businesses, the risk of failure measured in economic terms is high.
References

Bench, M. (2003). Career coaching: An insider’s guide. Palo Alto, CA: Davies Black.
Hoyt, K. B., & Lester, J. L. (1995). Learning to work: TheNCDA Galiup survey. Alexandria, VA:
National Career Development Association.
National Board of Certified Counselors. (1996). Certification information and application. Alexandria, VA: Author.
National Career Development Association. (1988). The professional practice of career counsel¬ing and consultation: A resource document. Alexandria, VA: Author.

National Career Development Association. (1999).
Available at www.ncda.org, accessed 11/29/01. National Career Development Association. (2001).
Consumer guidelines for selecting a career
counselor. Available at www.ncda.org, accessed
12/2/01. Ridgewood Financial Institute. (1995). Guide to
private practice (2nd ed.). Hawthorne, NJ:
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