No abstract

Within the theoretical framework of Osgood's (Osgood, Suci, & Tannenbaum, 1957) theory of meaning the sign of an object is a primary symbol assumed to evoke a representational mediating response that is some part of the total behavior emitted by the organism when stimulated by the object itself. This response produces distinctive cues, mediating behavior that would otherwise not have occurred in the absence of previous association of the object with the word. The representational elements (r m -s m ) correspond to the meaning of the sign, and because of the cue or stimulus components the sign can be conditioned to other stimuli initially lacking in meaning. Upon conditioning such symbolic stimuli are designated assigns. On the basis of the congruity principle distinctive responses may be produced by novel stimuli if the assign, within appropriate contextual arrangements, is used to label other novel stimuli (Osgood etal., 1957).

No abstract

Wisconsin Children's Treatment CenterMMPI validity and jK-corrected diagnostic scale scores, responses to a mental health opinion questionnaire, biographical data, and job performance ratings of 52 child care personnel were intercorrelated. There were significant (p < .05) relationships between 11 MMPI scales and measures of job proficiency, but only 4 of the 40 mental health opinion items were related to proficiency. A principal components analysis of the entire correlation matrix yielded two major factors. Items related to adjustment and job proficiency were strongly loaded on the first factor. The second factor reflected the biographical variables. The remaining factors accounted for small portions of the total variance and seemed to be relatively specific in nature. Since mental health opinions in contrast to personal adjustment were seemingly unrelated to job proficiency, it was suggested that their "mental illness" determined content was irrelevant to performance on a job requiring a "learning" orientation.

Inter-judge reliability was examined to determine the applicability of the Pittsburgh Adjustment Survey Scales for research requiring a variety of raters to provide measurements of behavioral change. Multiple ratings were collected for inpatient and outpatient emotionally disturbed children who would be similar to children ordinarily included in treatment-outcome studies. Interjudge reliabilities ranged from .31 to .90. The total scale had excellent reliability when used in a school situation and two of the subscales (Aggressive Behavior and Withdrawn Behavior) appeared satisfactory for application in other settings.