Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology clear version in English

by Locke as “whatsoever is the object of the understand- ing when a man thinks.” This broad use means that sen- sations, memories, imaginings, and feelings as well as John Locke concepts are ideas insofar as they are mental. The danger of Locke’s epistemology is the inherent skepticism con- tained in a technique which describes what is “in” the mind. For if everything is an idea, then it is difficult to distinguish between true and false, real and imaginary, impressed sensations and expressed concepts. Thus Locke, and the subsequent history of philosophy, had to wrestle with the dilemma that a psychological descrip- tion of the origin of ideas seriously undermines the ex- tent of their objective validity. Nonetheless the intention of the Essay was positive in that Locke wished to establish the dependence of all human knowledge upon everyday experience or sensa- tion. The alternative theory of innate ideas is vigorously attacked. Although it is not historically certain whether anyone seriously maintained such a doctrine, Locke’s general criticism lends indirect support to an experiential view of knowledge. Innatism can be understood in a naive way to mean that there are ideas of which we are fully conscious at birth or which are universally ac- knowledged, so that the mind possesses a disposition to think in terms of certain ideas. The first position is refut- ed by observation of children, and the second by the fact John Locke (Rutgers University Library. Reproduced with that there are no acknowledged universal ideas to which permission.) everyone agrees. The sophisticated version falls into contradiction by maintaining that we are conscious of an of the unity of substrate of the simple qualities we per- unconscious disposition. ceive. And relations are the powers in objects capable of causing minds to make comparisons, for example, identi- Theory of knowledge ty and cause and effect. The difficulty is that complex ideas do not relate to perceivable existents, but hopefully, Having refuted the a priori, or nonexperiential, ac- complex ideas do express elements or characteristics of count of knowledge, Locke devotes the first two books the real world. of the Essay to developing a deceptively simple empiri- cal theory of knowledge. Knowing originates in external Locke is faced with an acute dilemma. If the imme- and internal sources of sensation and reflection. The ob- diate object of knowledge is an idea, then man possesses jects or ideas present to consciousness are divided into only a derivative knowledge of the physical world. To simple and complex. Simple ideas are primitive sense know the real world adequately requires a complex idea data, which the mind passively receives and cannot alter, which expresses the relation between the qualities that delivered by one sense (seeing blue), by several senses we perceive subjectively and the unperceived existent. (eating an orange as a synthesis of taste, touch, and The substance which unites the common perceived qual- smell), by reflection (hunger), or by a combination of ities of figure, bulk, and color into this one existing sensation and reflection (pleasure and pain). The objec- brown table is, in Locke’s terms, an “I don’t know what.” tive orientation of simple ideas follows from the fact that His honesty almost brought Locke to a modern relational we cannot add or subtract from their appearance or con- definition of substance instead of the traditional notion ception in the mind. In relation to simple ideas, at least, of a thing characterized by its properties. But the conclu- the mind is passive, a “blank” or “white” tablet upon sion drawn in the Essay is that knowledge is relational; which sensations are impressed. Complex ideas are that is, it consists in the perception “of the agreement or formed by actively combining, comparing, or abstracting disagreement among ideas.” For if Locke had argued that simple ideas to yield “modes, substances, and relations.” knowledge expresses an adequation between the com- Modes are class concepts or ideas that do not exist inde- plex idea in the mind and the real object, then man pendently, such as beauty. Substance is a complex idea would have the power to go beyond ideas to the object GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION 391

Locus of control itself. But this is impossible, since every object is, by de- Laslett, Peter, ed. Two treatises of government. 1960. Cranston, Maurice. John Locke: a biography. 1957. finition, an idea, and thus ironically, experiential knowl- Yolton, John W. John Locke and the way of ideas. 1956. edge is not about real objects but only about the per- Kendall, Willmoore. John Locke and the doctrine of majority ceived relations of ideas. rule. 1959. The third book of the Essay deals with words, and it is a pioneer contribution to the philosophy of language. Berkeley: a collection of critical essays. 1968. Locke is a consistent nominalist in that for him language Martin, Charles B. and D.M. Armstrong, eds. Locke and Yolton, John W. John Locke: problems and perspectives: a col- is an arbitrary convention and words are things which lection of new essays. 1969. “stand for nothing but the ideas in the mind of the man that has them.” Each man’s understanding can be con- firmed by other minds insofar as they share the same lin- guistic conventions, although one of the singular abuses Locus of control of language results from the fact that we learn names or words before understanding their use. A personality orientation characterized either by the belief that one can control events by one’s own The purpose of Locke’s analysis is to account for efforts (internal locus of control) or that the future is generalization, abstraction, and universals in terms of determined by forces outside one’s control (exter- language. Generalizations are the result of drawing, or nal locus of control). abstracting, what is common to many. In this sense, gen- eralizations and universals are inventions of the mind If a person with an internal locus of control does which concern only signs. But they have a foundation in badly on a test, she is likely to blame either her own lack the similitude of things. And those class concepts which of ability or preparation for the test. By comparison, a have a fixed meaning and definition can be understood person with an external locus of control will tend to ex- as essences, but they are only nominal and not real. The plain a low grade by saying that the test was too hard or difference between our knowledge and reality is like that that the teacher graded unfairly. The concept of locus of between seeing the exterior of Big Ben and understand- control was developed by psychologist Julian Rotter, ing how the clock works. who devised the Internal-External Locus of Control The final section of the Essay deals with the extent, Scale (I-E) to assess this dimension of personality. types, and divisions of knowledge. This work seems to Studies have found that this test is a valid predictor of have been written earlier than the others, and many of its behavior typically associated with locus of control. conclusions are qualified by preceding material. The Links have been found between locus of control and agreement or disagreement of ideas, which constitutes behavior patterns in a number of different areas. People knowledge, consists of identity and diversity, perceived re- with an internal locus of control are inclined to take re- lations, coexistence or real existence known by way of in- sponsibility for their actions, are not easily influenced by tuition, and demonstration or sensation of a given existent. the opinions of others, and tend to do better at tasks when they can work at their own pace. By comparison, In this view the actual extent of man’s knowledge is people with an external locus of control tend to blame less than his ideas because he does not know the real con- outside circumstances for their mistakes and credit their nections between simple ideas, or primary and secondary successes to luck rather than to their own efforts. They qualities. Also, an intuitive knowledge of existence is lim- are readily influenced by the opinions of others and are ited to the self, and the only demonstrable existence is more likely to pay attention to the status of the opinion- that of God as an eternal, omnipotent being. With the ex- holder, while people with an internal locus of control pay ception of the self and God, all knowledge of existing more attention to the content of the opinion regardless of things is dependent upon sensation, whose cognitive sta- who holds it. Some researchers have claimed that “inter- tus is “a little bit better than probability.” The poverty of nals” tend to be more intelligent and more success-ori- real knowledge is compensated to some extent by human ented than “externals.” In the elementary grades, chil- judgment, which presumes things to be true without actu- dren with an internal locus of control have been found to ally perceiving the connections. And, according to earn higher grades, although there are conflicting reports Locke’s commonsense attitude, the severe restrictions about whether there is a relationship between college placed upon knowledge merely reflect that man’s mental grades and locus of control. There is also a relationship capacity is suitable for his nature and condition. between a child’s locus of control and his or her ability Further Reading to delay gratification (to forgo an immediate pleasure or Yolton, John W., ed. An essay concerning human understand- desire in order to be rewarded with a more substantial ing. 2 vols. 1961. rev. ed. 1965. one later). In middle childhood,children with an inter- 392 GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION

nal locus of control are relatively successful in the delay group of 72 children between the ages of five and eight, of gratification,while children with an external locus of giving them various tasks related to classes of objects, control are likely to make less of an effort to exert self- and found that children who could not perform exten- control in the present because they doubt their ability to sional logic tasks were nevertheless able to practice in- Logical thinking influence events in the future. tensional logic. (Intension defines the properties of a class, while extension determines who or what can be a Although people can be classified comparatively as member of a particular class; if the intension of a class is “internals” or “externals,” chronological development “red objects,” the extension will include any particular within each individual generally proceeds in the direc- object that happens to be red.) However, Piaget knew tion of an internal locus control. As infants and children that preoperational children could practice intensional grow older they feel increasingly competent to control logic, but, in his view, incomplete logical thought was, events in their lives. Consequently, they move from by definition, pre-logical. For example, children who un- being more externally focused to a more internal locus. derstand the meaning (intensionality) of a “red objects” Further Reading class may decide not to include certain red objects—for Bem, Allen P. Personality Theories. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, reasons that the experimenter would define as illogical 1994. (e.g.: “it’s too little”). Burger, Jerry M. Personality. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole Publishing Company, 1993. Houdè and Charron have identified an “operational proto-logic” in children whom Piaget would define as pre-logical. Instead of arbitrarily promoting purely inten- sional thinking to the rank of full-fledged (extensional Logical thinking and intensional) logical thought, Houdè and Charron de- cided to investigate the mental processes underlying The ability to understand and to incorporate the seemingly illogical behavior. In a series of experiments rules of basic logical inference in everyday activi- involving children aged five to eight, a group straddling ties. the pre-operational/operational boundary, the two re- searchers focused on the intensional logicians who failed Regarded as a universal human trait, the ability to the extensional logic (inclusion). Clearly, the act of not think logically, following the rules of logical inference, including some red object in the “red objects” class was, has traditionally been defined as a higher cognitive skill. in a strictly Piagetian sense, illogical, or, more precisely, The field of cognitive child psychology was dominated illogical behavior, but was that behavior determined by for more than half a century by the Swiss philosopher irrational thinking? To their surprise, they found, particu- and psychologist Jean Piaget,whose studies are consid- larly in a modified form of the “partition” experiment ered fundamental. Piaget identified four stages of cogni- (Piaget and Garcia, 1987), that, when shown the drawing tive development. During the sensory-motor stage (ages of a circle (B) divided into two by a line (the two sub- 0-2), the child learns to experience the world physically classes being A and A’), A’ may be ignored as a subclass and attains a rudimentary grasp of symbols. In the preop- of B, not because of illogical thinking, but because A is erational stage (ages 2-7), symbols are used, but thought more compelling from the point of view of perception. is still “preoperational,” which means that the child does According to Pascual-Leone (Pascual-Leone, 1988), not understand that a logical, or mathematical, operation there is a misleading scheme underlying the perception can be reversed. The concrete operations stage (ages 6 of B, and a subclass is excluded. According to Houdè or 7-11) ushers in logical thinking; children, for instance, and Charron, the child understands the intensional logic, understand principles such as cause and effect. The for- or meaning, of the “red objects” class, but stumbles at mal operations stage (12-adulthood), introduces abstract the extensional, or inclusion, level because of perceptual thinking (i.e., thought operations that do not need to re- factors. Thus, the undeniable Piagetian shift, around the late to concrete concepts and phenomena). age of seven years, from non-inclusive to inclusive be- Logical thinking, in Piaget’s developmental scheme, havior does not indicate a quantum leap from pre-logical is operational, which means that it does not appear be- to logical thinking, but, rather, reflects the presence of an fore the concrete operations stage. While students of inhibiting mechanism, whereby the confusing effect of child cognition generally agree with Piaget’s develop- perception on cognition is neutralized. Thus, as Houdè mental milestones, subsequent research in the area has and Charron have remarked, a non-inclusive six-year-old led researchers to question the idea that some logical may have an inefficient inhibiting mechanism. These thinking cannot appear in the preoperational stage. For findings, although suggesting a continuum model of cog- example, Olivier Houdè and Camilo Charron tested a nitive development, as opposed to the Piagetian idea of a GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION 393

Longitudinal study quantum leap from pre-logical to logical thinking, does dividual or group behavior over an extended period of time by repeatedly monitoring the same subjects. In lon- not, in fact question the foundations of Piaget’s essential- gitudinal research, results are recorded for the same ly developmental theory of cognition. Piaget himself, in group of subjects, referred to as a cohort, throughout the his search for the origins of logical thinking, studied course of the study. very young children, ever mindful of the relevance of other mental, and non-mental, factors and processes to An example of a longitudinal study might be an ex- the emergence of logical thought. Finally, Piaget’s work was the foundation from which emerged the insight, cor- amination of the effects of preschool attendance on later school performance. The researchers would select two roborated by empirical observation, that the very young groups of children—one comprised of children who at- child is already a logician. tend preschool, and the other comprised of children who Philosophers specializing in the study of childhood had no preschool experience prior to attending kinder- have found that the logical repertoire of young children garten. These children would be evaluated at different is not limited to intensional logic. Many utterances made points during their school career. The longitudinal study by children, particularly statements involving the con- allows the researcher to focus on these children as they cepts of possibility and necessity, exhibit a grasp, albeit mature and record developmental patterns across time. A rudimentary, of modal logic, i.e., the branch of logic disadvantage of the longitudinal study is that researchers which formulates rules for propositions about possibility must be engaged in the study over a period of years and and necessity (Matthews, 1980). The fact that the dis- risk losing some of their research subjects, who may dis- course of young children fits easily into the formal con- continue their participation for any number of reasons. text of modal logic, which is related to intensional logic, Another disadvantage of the longitudinal study reflects indicates that the children’s logical aptitude may yield the fact that some of the changes or behaviors observed new surprises. Building on the rich legacy of Piaget’s during the study may be the effects of the assessment work, researchers have significantly expanded the field process itself. In addition to the longitudinal study, some of cognitive development, gaining critical insights which researchers may employ the cross-sectional study will further elucidate the human paradigm. The crucial method. In this method, the subjects, or cohort, are relevance of Piagetian and post-Piagetian studies for the drawn from different groups and are studied at the same inquiry concerning logical thinking in children lies in the point in time. fact that these studies have shed light on the important role played by non-logical, and non-mental, factors in the formation of logical thought. Zoran Minderovic Konrad Lorenz 1903-1989 Further Reading Austrian behaviorist and early leader in the field of Inhelder, Bärbel, and Jean Piaget. The Early Growth of Logic ethology. in the Child: Classification and Seriation. London: Rout- ledge and Kegan Paul, 1964. Konrad Lorenz played a lead role in forging the field Matthews, Gareth B. Philosophy and the Young Child. Cam- of ethology, the comparative study of animal behavior, bridge: Harvard University Press, 1980. and helped regain the stature of observation as a recog- Pascal-Leone, J. “Organismic Processes for Neo-Piagetian nized and respected scientific method. Along the way, Theories: A Dialectical Causal Account of Cognitive De- his observations—particularly of greylag geese —led to velopment.” In The Neo-Piagetian Theories of Cognitive important discoveries in animal behavior. Perhaps his Development: Toward an Integration. A. Demetriou, ed. most influential determination was that behavior, like Amsterdam: North-Holland, 1988. physical traits,evolves by natural selection. In one of his many books, On Aggression, he wrote, “Historians will have to face the fact that natural selection deter- mined the evolution of cultures in the same manner as it Longitudinal study did that of species.” In 1973, he and two other etholo- gists jointly accepted the Nobel Prize for physiology or Research method used to study changes over time. medicine for their behavioral research. Born on Novem- ber 7, 1903, in Vienna, Austria, Lorenz was the younger Researchers in such fields as developmental psy- of two sons born to Adolf Lorenz and his wife and assis- chology use longitudinal studies to study changes in in- tant, Emma Lecher. His father was an orthopedic sur- 394 GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION

geon whose new hip-joint operation brought him renown on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. The young Konrad Lorenz received his schooling in Vienna at a private ele- Konrad Lorenz mentary school and at the Schottengymnasium, one of the city’s best secondary schools. But his love of animals began outside of school, primarily at the family’s sum- mer home in Altenberg, Austria. Lorenz’s parents in- dulged his interests, allowing him to have many pets as a youth. His interests became more grounded in science when he read about Charles Darwin’s evolutionary theo- ry at the age of 10. Although Lorenz had an apparent interest in animals, his father insisted he study medicine. In 1922, Lorenz began premedical training at Columbia University in New York but returned early to Austria to continue the program at the University of Vienna. Despite his medical studies, Lorenz found time to informally study animals. He also kept a detailed diary of the activities of his pet bird Jock, a jackdaw. In 1927, his career as an animal be- haviorist was launched when an ornithological journal printed his jackdaw diary. During the following year, he received an M.D. degree from the University of Vienna and became an assistant to a professor at the anatomical institute there. Lorenz recalled that period in his 1982 book The Foundations of Ethology: “When studying at the university under the Viennese anatomist, Ferdinand Konrad Lorenz (UPI/Corbis-Bettmann. Reproduced with Hochstetter, and after I had become thoroughly conver- permission.) sant with the methodology and procedure of phylogenetic (evolutionary) comparison, it became immediately clear er, even if that foster mother is a different species. Lorenz that the methods employed in comparative morphology raised goslings which, deprived of their parents and con- were just as applicable to the behavior of the many fronted instead with Lorenz, accepted him and attached species of fish and birds I knew so thoroughly, thanks to themselves to him as they normally would to their moth- the early onset of my love for animals.” His interests led er. Lorenz has often been photographed in Altenberg him to study zoology at the University of Vienna, and in walking down a path or rowing across the water with a 1933, Lorenz earned his Ph.D. in that field. string of goslings following, single-file, behind him. He similarly found that mallard ducks would imprint on him, Spends “goose summers” in Altenberg but only when he quacked and presented a shortened ver- sion of himself by squatting. While he enjoyed his close Lorenz then turned to animal behavior research for contact with animals, it did present some awkward situa- several years. It was during this time, 1935–38, that tions. On one occasion, while walking his ducklings, Lorenz developed the theories for which he is best which were hidden in the tall grass behind him, he known. He spent what he called his “goose summers” at stopped quacking for a minute and looked up from his the Altenberg home, concentrating on the behavior of squatted position to see a group of tourists quizzically greylag geese and confirming many hypotheses that he watching from beyond the fence. had formed while observing his pet birds. In his later book The Year of the Greylag Goose, Lorenz explains that In addition he and Nikolaas Tinbergen, future Nobel he studied greylag geese for “many reasons, but the most Prize cowinner, developed the concept of the innate re- important is that greylag geese exhibit a family existence leasing mechanism. Lorenz found that animals have in- that is analogous in many significant ways to human fam- stinctive behavior patterns, or fixed-action patterns, that ily life.” While working with the geese, Lorenz developed remain dormant until a specific event triggers the animal the concept of imprinting. Imprinting occurs in many to exhibit this behavior for the first time. The fixed-ac- species, most noticeably in geese and ducks, when— tion pattern is a specific, ordered series of behaviors, within a short, genetically set time frame—an animal will such as the fighting and surrender postures used by many accept a foster mother in the place of its biological moth- animals. He emphasized that these fixed-action patterns GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION 395

KonradLorenz are not learned but are genetically programmed. The can tell us the most beautiful stories and that means true stories, because the truth about nature is always far more stimulus is called the “releaser,” and the nervous system beautiful even than what our great poets sing of it, and structure that responds to the stimulus and prompts the they are the only real magicians that exist.” instinctive behavior is the innate releasing mechanism. In The Foundations of Ethology, Lorenz explained that animals have an “innate schoolmarm” that rein- Lorenz writes that he was prompted to pen King Solomon’s Ring by an occasion when his assistant and forces useful behavior and checks harmful behavior friend Dr. Alfred Seitz and he were working on a film through a feedback apparatus. “Whenever a modification about the greylag geese. Seitz was trying to call in some of an organ, as well as of a behavior pattern, proves to be ducklings and accidentally used the language of the adaptive to a particular environmental circumstance, this geese. When he realized his error, Seitz apologized to the also proves incontrovertibly that information about this ducklings before switching to their quacking. Lorenz re- circumstance must have been ‘fed into’ the organism.” calls in the book, “it was at that very moment that the This information can take one of two routes: learning, or thought of writing a book first crossed my mind. There genetic programming. was nobody to appreciate the joke, Alfred being far too Lorenz later devised a hydraulic model to explain an preoccupied with his work. I wanted to tell it to some- animal’s motivation to perform fixed-action patterns. In body and so it occurred to me to tell it to everybody.” this model, he explained that energy for a specific action accumulates either until a stimulus occurs or until so In 1955, with the increased support of the Max much energy has built up that the animal displays the Planck society, Lorenz, ethologist Gustav Kramer, and fixed-action pattern spontaneously. He witnessed the physiologist Erich von Holst established and then codi- spontaneous performance of a fixed-action pattern first rected the Institute for Behavioral Physiology in when, as a boy, he watched his pet starling suddenly fly Seewiesen, Bavaria, near Munich. During the ensuing off its perch to the ceiling of the room, snap at the air in years at Seewiesen, Lorenz again drew attention, this the same way it would snap at an insect, then return to time for the analogies he drew between human and ani- beat the “insect” on the perch, and finally swallow. mal behavior—which many scientists felt were improp- er—and his continuing work on instinct. The latter work These exciting years for Lorenz did not go without gave further support to ethologists who believed that the controversy. He wrote a paper, “Disorders Caused by the innate behavior patterns found in animals evolved Domestication of Species-Specific Behavior,” which through natural selection, just as anatomical and physio- some critics felt contained a strong Nazi flavor in its logical characters evolved. This drew arguments from word choice. While Lorenz repeatedly condemned Nazi many animal psychologists who contended that all be- ideology, many still believed the paper reflected a pro- havior is learned. Nazi stance; he had to weather many criticisms. Following the deaths of codirectors von Holst and Kramer, Lorenz became the sole director of the Tells of his life with animals Seewiesen institute in 1961. In 1966, Lorenz again faced While the research continued, Lorenz accepted an some controversy with his book On Aggression. In the appointment in 1937 as lecturer in comparative anatomy book, Lorenz describes aggression as “the fighting in- and animal psychology at the University of Vienna. In stinct in beast and man which is directed against mem- 1940, he became professor of psychology at the Univer- bers of same species.” He writes that this instinct aids the sity of Konigsberg in Germany but a year later answered survival of both the individual and the species, in the lat- the call to serve in the German Army. In 1944, Lorenz ter case by giving the stronger males the better mating was captured by the Russians and sent to a prison camp. opportunities and territories. The book goes on to state It was not until 1948 that he was released. Upon his re- that animals—particularly animals that can inflict severe turn, Lorenz went back to the University of Vienna be- damage to one another with sharp canines or horns—will fore accepting a small stipend from the Max Planck So- use rank, territory, or evolved instinctual behavior pat- ciety for the Advancement of Science to resume his stud- terns to avoid actual violence and fatalities. Lorenz says ies at Altenberg. By 1952, Lorenz had published a popu- only humans purposefully kill each other—a fact that he lar book King Solomon’s Ring, an account of animal attributes to the development of artificial weapons out- behavior presented in easily understood terminology. In- pacing the human evolution of killing inhibitions. Critics cluded in the book are many of his often-humorous ex- say the book’s conclusions encourage the acceptance of periences with his study subjects. The book also includes violence in human behavior. On Aggression is an exam- a collection of his illustrations. As he writes in the book: ple of Lorenz’s shift in the 1960s from solely animal be- “Without supernatural assistance, our fellow creatures havior to include human social behavior. 396 GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION

Accepts nobel prize for behavioral research personal reactions to a loss, independent of expected cul- tural standards. In 1973, Lorenz, Tinbergen, and Karl Frisch, who studied bee communication, jointly accepted the Nobel Loss and grief Prize for their behavioral research. In the same year, The emotional process of grieving Lorenz retired from his position as director of the Everyone’s grief is personalized, although most peo- Seewiesen institute. He then returned to Altenberg where ple share many of the same feelings. There is no order or he continued writing and began directing the department schedule to grieving. The process may take a few days or of animal sociology at the Austrian Academy of Science. years. Grieving that goes on and on, such a chronic griev- In addition, the Max Planck Society for the Promotion of ing resulting in severe depression, or being stuck in a Science set up a research station for him at his ancestral certain phase of the process, like denial, is considered to home in Altenberg. In 1978, Lorenz gave a more person- indicate pathological grief, and may require intervention al view of his work with his picturebook The Year of the by a trained professional. Other signs of pathological Greylag Goose. As he begins the volume: “This is not a grief include extreme guilt feelings, irrational feelings of scientific book. It would be true to say that it grew out of responsibility for the loss, and excessive despondency. the pleasure I take in my observations of living animals, How people cope with life in general often indicates but that is nothing unusual, since all my academic works how they will deal with loss. Some coping behaviors are: have also originated in the same pleasure. The only way avoidance of painful stimuli, or triggers, (such as pho- a scientist can make novel, unexpected discoveries is tographs, favorite restaurants, clothing that smells like through observation free of any preconceived notions.” the loved one); distraction, such as keeping busy with In 1927, the same year his career-launching diary work; “filling up” the empty space with drugs or food or was published, Lorenz married childhood friend Mar- alcohol; obsessing or thinking a lot about the details of garethe “Gretl” Gebhardt, a gynecologist. They had two the death; impulsive behavior like moving or quitting daughters, Agnes and Dagmar, and a son, Thomas. work; praying; intellectualizing or thinking about the Lorenz was 85 years old when he died February 27, loss without being emotional; and attaching to other peo- 1989 of kidney failure at his home in Altenburg, Austria. ple. While these coping skills may help a person feel bet- See also Imprinting ter until they are able to reconstruct their lives without the object of the loss. Leslie Mertz Most psychologists identify the stages of grief and suggest that the typical emotional process of most people is as follows. Further Reading Evans, Richard I., Konrad Lorenz: The Man and His Ideas, Initially, a person may feel numbness, shock, and/or Harcourt, 1975. disbelief. A sudden change in reality occurs when some- Nisbett, Alec, Konrad Lorenz, Harcourt, 1976. one dies. Even if the death was expected, in the case of Nisbett, Alec, Nobel Prize Winners, Wilson, 1987, pp. 645–47. an extended illness, and there was anticipatory grief, or Nisbett, Alec, Time, (March 13, 1989): B6. grieving before the event happened, there can still be dis- Nisbett, Alec, Washington Post, (March 1, 1989). belief that the person is actually gone. There may be a sense of being distant or paralyzed. Some psychologists say that this is a way of protecting oneself from being overwhelmed. People’s reactions vary widely and while one person may feel listless and introverted, withdrawn Loss and grief and reflective, another person may burst out crying and be unable to accept that their loved one is gone. Some Loss, a state of being without, is usually accompa- nied by grief, which is an emotional state of intense denial is acute, while others are more subconscious, like sadness and a reaction to the disruption of attach- “accidentally” setting that person’s place at the table, or ment. hearing the deceased’s car in the garage. Most people pass through the denial stage fairly quickly and accept that the deceased is not coming back. There are many kinds of loss and each has its own kind of grief. People lose loved ones like spouses, part- Once the death has been accepted as real, the ners, children, family members, and friends. Even pet process of healing begins. Now a person can enter into losses can cause grief. Job or property loss can be the emotions of grief. People who have survived a loss painful. Mourning is the conventional cultural behavior may be preoccupied with thoughts about the deceased. A for those experiencing a loss. Grief reactions are those person may feel angry about their loss, or guilty that GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION 397

Loss and grief move past grief. In the final stages of grieving, a people re-establish themselves, let go of the deceased or recon- ciles with the loss, and begin to live in the present as op- posed to the past or the transition of grief process. Physical symptoms of grief Sighing, sobbing, crying, and weeping are common and normal physical signs of grief. Some psychological studies show that these forms of feeling are necessary physical release of stress and sadness mechanisms. Stress and sadness that are not relieved arise in other physical effects like, not being able to pay attention to present ex- perience, lack of concentration, poor memory, disrupted sleep patterns like insomnia, little or no appetite, abusing drugs or alcohol, and/or thoughts of suicide. Psychologists and medical doctors have identified some common physical symptoms of grieving which in- clude: tightness in the throat, a choking or suffocating feeling, shortness of breath, sighing, empty stomach feeling, lack of muscular power, tension, pain, and ab- sent mindedness. These are physiological and/or bio- chemical reactions. Grief can have major physical health consequences. There can be (especially among older people) compromised immune function, increased hospi- talization or surgeries, and/or increased mortality rates. Different kinds of losses All loss can be painful and different kinds of losses bring up particular issues. For instance, a child’s death Columbine High School students in Colorado grieving for their lost classmates. (Photo by David Zalubowski. AP/Wide brings up grief about the loss of what the future might World Photos. Reproduced with permission.) have brought and a feeling of the loss of innocence. Par- ents may also feel like major parts of themselves are gone and feel overwhelmingly guilty for surviving their they’ve survived the deceased. For some people there are child. unresolved issues, or regrets, that come up, like having Losing someone to suicide or a drug overdose can had a disagreement as last words, or having kept a secret. be confusing and shocking. Survivors often feel guilty, Some people get depressed, feel hopeless, and believe shameful, helpless, and angry. Multiple losses are also that they cannot go on. Others experience anxiety. The more complex. People who have lost a group of friends risk of suicide is a real concern in some situations. Some or a number of family members, or who have witnessed people re-evaluate their own lives as a result of the loss. a mass loss, may feel strong urges of wanting to go too, As a person processes through his or her emotions or guilt for being a survivor. Others, like people who and deals with the changes brought on by the loss, he/she have lost many loved ones to AIDS or old-age, must con- begins to reorganize, re-build, and re-invest energy into tend with separate issues of becoming desensitized to different attachments. Loss of a loved one may change a loss, or feeling completely isolated. person’s entire social support framework. A person may have to acquire new skills to move on. For instance, mar- Therapies and tasks of grieving ried women who were financially dependent upon hus- bands may have to become financially educated. Partners Millions of people work through grief without thera- who relied on the deceased for emotional support must py,but it can be invaluable to have psychological coun- find that support elsewhere. Children who have lost par- seling during times of major stress. Understanding ents must look to other role models. Although loss leaves friends and family can be essential in these times. Sup- permanent marks on someone’s life, most people do port groups may also prove beneficial. 398 GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION

Grieving is an important process in which people Kastenbaum, Robert J. Death, society, and human experience. learn to accept their losses. Althought some people grief New York, Oxford, Singapore, Sydney: Maxwell Macmil- rather easily and naturally, not allowing oneself to grieve lan International Publishing Group, 1991. can lead to unresolved grief. There are many forms of Kato, Pamela M. and Traci Mann. “A synthesis of psychologi- unresolved grief, like not grieving at all, blocked grief, cal interventions for the bereaved.” Clinical Psychology Review, vol. 19, no. 3, 275-296, 1999. delayed or conflicted grief, unanticipated grief that Aleksandr Romanovich Luria Rando, Therese A. Grief, dying, and death: clinical interven- comes up later, and/or chronic grief. The symptoms of tions for caregivers. Illinois: Research Press Company, unresolved grief are numerous, including but not limited 1984. to: over-activity, having the symptoms of the deceased, psychosomatic (imagined and possibly created) illness- Further Information es, drastic changes in social network, hostility towards National Mental Health Association. 1021 Prince Street, people connected with the death, self-sabotage, severe Alexandria, VA, USA. 22314, 800-969-6642. depression, suicidal tendencies, over-identification with http://www.nmha.org. Grief Recovery Institute. 8306 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, the deceased, and/or phobias about illness or death. Un- CA, USA. 90211, 800-445-4808. resolved grief can come about because of guilt, the new Self Help & Psychology Magazine. loss awakening an old loss, multiple losses, an inability http://shpm.com/articles/loss/griefcontinuum.html. to cope, or resistance to the process of mourning. Any The Grief Continuum: Three Stages of Grief Work. unresolved grief holds up growth in life and can lead to http://shpm.com/articles/loss/griefcontinuum.html. serious mental or physical problems. Psychologists have many specialized ways of deal- ing with grief. Sometimes they suggest that a client write a letter to the deceased, or they may use psychoanalysis in order to aid in the detachment process. Traditional Aleksandr Romanovich Luria cultural and/or religious customs may help, too. For psy- Russian psychologist who conducted groundbreak- chologists the core of their job in helping someone ing work on brain function. grieve is: reaching out, being a physical presence, being empathic and providing emotional support, giving per- 1902-1977 mission to grieve, making sure the griever doesn’t isolate Aleksander Luria’s research on normal versus abnor- him or herself, and assessing the grief so as to help the mal brain function was critically important in the under- process along. standing of how to approach brain injuries. Through his work, much was learned about the impact of head injuries, Dealing with grief or helping someone deal with brain tumors, and the effects of mental retardation. He grief-work involves taking the steps of the grief stages. also studied brain activity among children in an attempt to Accepting and facing the reality of loss, functioning in a understand how to minimize abnormal behavior. healthy way like eating right and sleeping well, working through the pain of memories and missing someone, Luria was borm in Kazan, Russia, on July 16, 1902, dealing with all the emotions that arise, coping with so- where he attended local schools. He went on to the Uni- cial and life changes brought on by the loss, detaching versity of Kazan and the Moscow Medical Institute. He from the deceased, accepting support, re-investing ener- received both an M.D. and a doctorate in education. Ini- gy, letting go, and making a new identity for oneself tially he worked with the educational psychologist Lev which includes having lost someone and being a survivor. Vygotsky at Moscow University. Luria researched the role speech plays in how children develop their concep- tual thought processes. Upon Vigotsky’s death in 1934, Lara Lynn Lane Luria continued this research. In particular, he was inter- ested in finding out how different functions, such as Further Reading speech, were controlled in normal and abnormal brains. Leick, Nini and Marianne Davidsen-Nielsen. Healing pain: at- Memory fascinated Luria—both what people did tachment, loss and grief therapy. London and NY: Tavis- and did not remember. One of his earliest subjects, a tock Routledge, 1991. newspaper reporter identified as S., was sent to Luria be- Deits, Bob. Life after loss: a personal guide to dealing with death, divorce, job change and relocation. Tucson, Ari- cause of what seemed to be a nearly perfect memory. zona: Fisher Books, 1992. Over the course of many years Luria conducted experi- Bowlby, John. Attachment and loss. New York: Basic Books, 1980. ments on S., trying to pinpoint precisely what it was that Kubler-Ross, Elizabeth. On death and dying. New York: accounted for this exceptional memory. He concluded Macmillan, (1969)1971. that S’s brain was able to process information in a GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION 399

Aleksandr Romanovich Luria unique way, using perception as well as memory. Luria focused on their specific handicap, and he advocated the creation of special schools for this function. wrote about his experiments with S. in The Mind of a Mnemonist. Luria was recognized in his own country with the During the Second World war Luria’s research and Order of Lenin, and he received several other awards experimentation were put into action, as he developed from the Soviet Union and other countries. Fluent in Eng- new ways to treat soldiers suffering from head wounds. lish, he made several trips to the United States to lecture. Specifically, his research into speech and the brain He was a member of the National Academy of Sciences helped him to treat soldiers whose injuries had robbed of the United States, the American Academy of Arts and them of the ability to speak. He developed new programs for rehabilitation over the next three decades. Another He was married in 1933 to Lana Lipchina; the cou- famous patient of Luria’s was the physicist Lev Landau. Sciences, and the American Academy of Education. ple had one daughter. Luria continued his work into the Landau had been severely injured in an automobile 1970s; he died on August 16, 1977. crash, and other doctors pronounced him dead and res- cuscitated him four times. Thanks to the work of Luria and his assistants, Landau was revived and able to re- George A. Milite store much of his normal brain function. Luria also continued his work with children. His re- Further Reading search led him to the conclusion that retarded children Luria, Aleksandr R. The Mind of a Mnemonist: A Little Book could make the most progress in an environment that about a Vast Memory. New York: Basic Books, 1968. 400 GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION

M erating variable in the development of personality. This Eleanor Emmons Maccoby notion was supported in her work in parent-child social- ization and also in studies of children’s identification 1917- with film characters. American psychologist and educator. Maccoby’s interest in children and research never Most widely known for her work in the psychology flagged. Even while deeply involved in this socialization of sex differences, Eleanor Maccoby has achieved a dis- project, she conducted studies on the effects of television tinguished career as an educator as well. She spent eight on children, identifying the kinds of activities that were years in the 1950s as a lecturer and research associate in displaced when families acquired televisions, and other social relations at Harvard University. Later, she joined studies of the influence of neighborhood cohesion on the faculty at Stanford University and eventually became delinquency rates in low-income areas. She found that chairman of the psychology department. neighborhoods in low-income, “at risk” areas had lower rates of juvenile delinquency when they were relatively Eleanor Emmons was born May 15, 1916, in Taco- tightly knit and, simply put, people looked out for one ma, Washington, to Harry Eugene and Viva May Em- another and one another’s children. mons. She married Nathan Maccoby in 1938, received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Washington After moving to Stanford, Maccoby added studies in 1939, and then traveled to Washington, D.C., where of developmental changes in attention to her areas of she spent the years during World War II working for a study. She and her colleagues demonstrated that as they government agency. Returning to her studies at the Uni- grew, children improved first in the ability to attend to a versity of Michigan, Maccoby earned her master’s de- single message in the presence of distractions, and then gree in 1949 and her Ph.D. in 1950. She spent the next in the ability to divide attention between simultaneously eight years at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massa- competing stimuli. chusetts, before moving to Stanford University in Cali- It was also at Stanford that Maccoby began a long as- fornia, where she served as a professor and chairman of sociation with Carol Nagy Jacklin that would result in the the psychology department from 1973-76. work for which she is most well known. Jacklin and Mac- Although Eleanor Maccoby’s interests lay primarily coby studied differences and similarities in boys and girls, in studying the social factors that influence human devel- using a thorough review of available literature as well as opment, she also considered the interweaving contribu- original research. Their 1974 book, The Psychology of Sex tions of other factors, such as biological and cognitive Differences, represented an unparalleled synthesis of re- processes. In fact, for her doctoral dissertation, which search in the area of sex differences in development, and, she completed under the guidance of B.F. Skinner, she given the political climate of the 1970s, stimulated much conducted experiments in learning and reinforcement. discussion. Maccoby and Jacklin were simultaneously criticized for being too biological, not biological enough, After finishing her doctoral work, Maccoby joined giving too much credence to socialization pressures, and Robert Sears, then a professor of social relations at Har- not giving enough credence to social forces. vard, in a large-scale study investigating whether certain parental practices were related to children’s personality Interestingly, however, Maccoby and Jacklin offered characteristics. This study resulted in an influential a third possibility for forces that shape differences be- book, Patterns of Child Rearing. Maccoby’s work led tween the sexes that reflected Maccoby’s earlier interests her to believe that identification was an important mod- in cognition and identification. They argued that, in ad- GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION 401

Mania dition to being influenced by their biology and the social people appear to be joyful and celebratory, their mood corresponds little to conditions they are experiencing in environment around them, children engaged in “self-so- cialization.” The authors suggested that in this proactive reality. Expressions of hostility and irritability also are process, children themselves draw inferences from the common during manic episodes. roles and behaviors in which they see men and women, boys and girls engaging. Depending on their develop- Further Reading mental level, children then use these inferences to guide Duke, Patty. Call Me Anna. New York: Bantam, 1987. their own behavior. Jamison, Kay. Touched with Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament. New York: Free Press, 1993 Maccoby’s published works reflect her abiding in- terest in the socialdevelopment of children and differ- ences between the sexes. Maccoby has received many honors and awards during her career. They include the Gores Award for excellence in teaching from Stanford (1981); a research award from the American Educational Manic depression Research Association (1984); an award recognizing her research from the Society for Research in Child Devel- See Bipolar disorder opment (1987); and the Distinguished Scientific Contri- bution Award from the American Psychological Associa- tion (1988). She was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1993. Marijuana Doreen Arcus Ph.D. The common name of a small number of varieties of Cannabis sativa, or Indian hemp plant, which Further Reading contain tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), a psychoac- Maccoby, E. “Eleanor E. Maccoby.” In A History of Psycholo- tive drug. gy in Autobiography. G. Lindzey, ed. Stanford, CA: Stan- ford University Press, 1989. Cannabis, in the form of marijuana, hashish (a dried ———. Social Development: Psychological Growth and the resinous material that seeps from cannabis leaves and is Parent-Child Relationship. New York: Harcourt, Brace more potent than marijuana), or other cannabinoids, is and Jovanovich, 1980. Maccoby, E., and C.N. Jacklin. Psychology of Sex Differences. probably the most often used illegal substance in the Stanford: Stanford Univesity Press, 1974. world. In the United States, marijuana use became wide- Maccoby, E., and R.H. Mnookin. Dividing the Child: Social spread among young people in the 1960s. By 1979, 68 and Legal Dilemmas of Custody. Cambridge, MA: Har- percent of young adults between the ages of 18 and 25 vard University Press, 1992. had experimented with it at least once, and it was report- ed that as of the same year the total number of people in the U.S. who had tried the drug was 50 million. In the late 1980s, it was estimated that about 50 to 60 percent Mania of people between the ages of 21 and 29 had tried mari- juana at least once. A description of the condition opposite depression Marijuana and hashish are usually smoked, but may in manic-depressive psychosis, or bipolar disorder. It is characterized by a mood of elation without ap- also be ingested orally, and are sometimes added to food parent reason. or beverages. The psychoactive substance of cannabis is tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, especially delta-9- tetrahydrocannabinol. Delta-9-THC can be synthesized, Most episodes of mania—elation without reason- is known to affect the central nervous system, and has able cause or justification—are followed in short order been legally used to treat side-effects of chemotherapy by depression; together they represent the opposites de- and weight loss in persons affected with AIDS. Other scribed as bipolar disorder. Manic episodes are charac- legal therapeutic uses of marijuana include the treatment terized by intense feelings of energy and enthusiasm, un- of glaucoma and epilepsy. characteristic self-confidence, continuous talking, and little need for sleep. People experiencing a manic period The effects of cannabis use vary from individual to tend to make grandiose plans and maintain inflated be- individual, depending on the physical and psychological liefs about their own personal abilities. While manic condition of the user, the amount of THC consumed, and 402 GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION

A chemical present in marijuana has been shown to destroy brain cells in rats. (Photo by Tom McHugh. National Audubon Marijuana Society Collection/Photo Researchers, Inc. Reproduced by permission.) many other factors. Technically, marijuana is classified as Documented negative effects of marijuana use in- a hallucinogen, but its effects are usually much milder clude impairment in perception, sensory motor coordi- than those of other drugs in this category, such as LSD, nation, short-term memory, and panic attacks, and is mescaline, and psilocybin. When it is inhaled through a also linked to impairment of the immune system, low- marijuana cigarette, THC reaches its highest concentra- ered testosterone levels in males, and chromosome tion in the blood within a half hour, and is absorbed by damage. If taken by pregnant women, marijuana affects the brain and other organs, and can affect consciousness the developing fetus. Long-term marijuana smokers for several hours. THC can remain stored in body fat for display similar respiratory dysfunctions as tobacco several weeks. Marijuana users commonly experience smokers In research on rats, THC has been found to de- feelings of euphoria, self-confidence, reduced inhibition, stroy cells in the hippocampus, a part of the brain that relaxation, and a floating sensation. Feelings of giddiness is important in the formation of new memories. Psy- and mild feelings of paranoia are also common. Physio- chologically, chronic use of marijuana has been associ- logical effects include increases in pulse and heart rates, ated with a loss of ambition known as amotivational reddened eyes, dryness of the mouth, and an increased syndrome. Authorities differ with respect to the physi- appetite. The initial euphoric feelings after ingesting mar- cal and psychological risks of short-term and long-term ijuana are generally followed by sleepiness. Although use/abuse of cannabis. Current penalties for the illegal marijuana has been known to produce psychological de- possession of marijuana, hashish, or other form of pendence, there is little tendency to become physically cannabis can be extremely severe. dependent on it, and withdrawal from the drug does not See also Drugs/Drug abuse pose medical problems. Recently, receptors for THC have been discovered in the brain, together with a naturally-oc- Further Reading curring substance—anandamide—that binds the chemical Grinspoon, Lester. Marijuana Reconsidered. Oakland, CA: to its receptors and may be a neurotransmitter. Quick American Archives, 1994. GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION 403

Marriage counseling There are many different approaches to marriage treats the other spouse. An increasing number of thera- Marriage counseling pists counsel couples in pairs, with married therapists sometimes working together as a team. Theoretically, the A clinical specialty of family and marital therapy. relationship between the co-therapists is supposed to serve as a model for their clients. Marriage counseling in groups, which is becoming increasingly common, offers counseling, which may be used alone or combined with other methods by the therapist. Among the oldest is the offers individuals. Sex counseling, which had previously psychodynamic approach, which attributes problems clients some of the same advantages that group therapy been part of marital therapy, emerged as an independent within a marriage to the unresolved conflicts and needs of field following the pioneering work of William Masters each spouse. Each client’s personal history and underly- and Virginia Johnson in the 1950s and 1960s. Couples ing motivations are central to this mode of therapy. Ther- seeking treatment for sexual dysfunction have the op- apists using this approach apply the principles of psycho- tion of working with a sex therapist. analysis in their treatment; they may either treat both Marriage counseling is usually practiced by licensed marriage partners individually, or treat one spouse in col- individuals with specialized training in psychology, psy- laboration with another therapist who treats the other. chiatry, and counseling, or by persons without such Marriage counseling that follows a systems ap- training, including members of the clergy. The first mar- proach stresses the interaction between partners as the riage counseling centers were established in the 1930s, origin of marital difficulties, rather than their actions or and the American Association of Marriage and Family personality. Behavior and communication patterns are Therapy (formally the American Association of Marriage analyzed as well as the interlocking roles portrayed by Counselors) was founded in 1942. the couple or members of the family. Family members may be conditioned to consistently play “the strong one” Further Reading or “the weak one,” or such other roles as “scapegoat,” Brammer, Lawrence M. Therapeutic Psychology: Fundamen- “caretaker,” or “clown.” Although initially it may seem tals of Counseling and Psychotherapy. 5th ed. Englewood that only one member of a family system is troubled, on Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1989. closer inspection his or her difficulties are often found to Ronch, Judah L, William van Ornum, and Nicholas C. Stilwell, eds. The Counseling Sourcebook: A Practical Reference be symptomatic of an unhealthy pattern in which all the on Contemporary Issues. New York: Crossroad, 1994. members play an active part. Systems theory is actually an umbrella term for a range of therapies, and systems- oriented counseling may take a variety of forms, includ- ing both short- and long-term therapy. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs A popular individual treatment approach also used in marriage counseling is Rogerian or client-centered therapy, also referred to as humanistic therapy. Here, See Maslow, Abraham the emphasis is on communication and the open sharing of feelings. Through specially formulated exercises, cou- ples work on improving their speaking and listening skills and enhancing their capacity for emotional hon- esty. Another widely employed mode of marriage coun- Abraham Maslow seling is based on a behavioral approach, in which mari- 1908-1970 tal problems are treated as dysfunctional behaviors that American psychologist. can be observed and modified. Couples are made aware of destructive behavior patterns, often by systematically A central figure in humanistic psychology and in recording their behavior until certain patterns emerge. the human potential movement, Abraham Maslow is The therapist then coaches them in various modifying known especially for his theory of motivation. He was strategies with the goal of achieving positive, mutually born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, and received his reinforcing interactions. Behavior-oriented therapy also Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Wisconsin in focuses on improving a couple’s problem-solving and 1934. Maslow then began medical studies, which he dis- conflict-resolution skills. continued within a year, after which he was offered a Marriage counselors may conduct therapy sessions postdoctoral research fellowship to work with Edward with both spouses, treating one as the primary client and Thorndike at Columbia University. After moving to the other one only occasionally, while another therapist New York, Maslow met many prominent European psy- 404 GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION

Self- Abraham Maslow actualization needs (Self-fulfillment and realization of one's potential) Esteem needs (Fulfillment of approval by others; recognition) Belongingness and love needs (Fulfillment of acceptance by others; to belong) Safety needs (Fulfillment of security, safety) Biological needs (Fulfillment of basic needs: food, water, etc.) Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Abraham Maslow (UPI/Corbis-Bettmann. Reproduced with permission.) chologists and social scientists who had fled Nazi Ger- many. Several of these emigrés became his mentors, in- coln (1809-1865), Jane Addams (1860-1935), Albert cluding psychoanalysts Alfred Adler, Erich Fromm, Einstein (1879-1955), and Eleanor Roosevelt (1884- and Karen Horney and Gestalt psychologists Max 1962). In addition to drawing up a list of the common Wertheimer (1880-1943) and Kurt Koffka (1886- traits of self-actualized individuals, Maslow placed self- 1941). In 1937 Maslow began teaching at the newly actualization at the peak of his hierarchy of human mo- opened Brooklyn College. At the urging of anthropolo- tivations, the concept for which he is best known today. gist Ruth Benedict (1887-1948), whom Maslow had met at Columbia, he spent the summer of 1938 doing field This hierarchy is generally portrayed as a pyramid work on a Blackfoot Indian reservation in Alberta, Cana- with five levels, ranging from the most basic needs at the da, with financial support from the Social Science Re- bottom to the most complex and sophisticated at the top. search Council. In 1951 Maslow became the head of the From bottom to top, the levels are biological needs (food, psychology department at Brandeis University, where he water, shelter); safety; belongingness and love; the need remained until a year before his death in 1970. to be esteemed by others; and self-actualization, the need to realize one’s full potential. According to Maslow, the needs at each level must be met before one can move on During the 1940s, Maslow began to work out his to the next level. With so many other issues to concern theory of human motivation, which was eventually pub- them, the vast majority of people never grapple with self- lished in Motivation and Human Personality in 1954. actualization; Maslow considered fewer than one percent Rejecting the determinism of both the psychoanalytic of the population to be self-actualized individuals. How- and behaviorist approaches, Maslow took an optimistic ever, he believed that all human beings still possessed an approach to human behavior that emphasized developing innate (if unmet) need to reach this state. one’s full potential. Instead of basing his psychological model on people with mental and emotional problems, During the 1950s and 1960s, Maslow became asso- he used as his point of reference a collection of excep- ciated with the movement known as humanistic psychol- tionally dynamic and successful historical and contem- ogy, which he also referred to as the Third Force because porary figures whom he considered “self-actualizers,” in- it offered an alternative to the prevailing schools of psy- cluding Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), Abraham Lin- choanalysis and behaviorism in both theory and thera- GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION 405

Masochism peutic practice. Like Maslow, colleagues such as Carl Rogers and Rollo May rejected the idea that human be- havior was determined by childhood events or condi- tioning and stressed instead the individual’s power to grow and change in the present. They believed that the goal of psychotherapy was to remove the obstacles that prevented their clients from self-actualizing. As humanistic psychology gave birth to the human potential movement of the 1960s, Maslow became one of its central figures, lecturing at the Esalen Institute at Big Sur, California, which offered workshops by psy- chologists, social scientists, philosophers, and other in- tellectual figures. During these years, he also popular- ized the concept of the peak experience, an unusual mo- ment of extreme joy, serenity, beauty, or wonder that he believed was closely related to self-actualization. In William Masters, right, with coworker Virginia Johnson. 1967 and 1968, Maslow served as president of the Amer- (UPI/Corbis-Bettmann. Reproduced with permission.) ican Psychological Association. In 1969, he moved to Menlo Park, California, where he died of a heart attack a year later. In his lifetime Maslow published over 100 ar- sexuality was reinforced when he learned of the research ticles in magazines and professional journals. His other done by Alfred Kinsey (1894-1956) at the University of In- books include Toward a Psychology of Being (1962), Re- diana, where he had interviewed men and women about ligions, Values, and Peak Experiences (1964), Eupsychi- their sexual experiences. Masters completed his internship an Management (1965), The Psychology of Science and residency at St. Louis Hospital and Barnes Hospital, (1966), and a posthumous collection of papers entitled choosing obstetrics and gynecology as a speciality. He also The Farther Reaches of Human Nature (1971). did an internship in pathology at the Washington University School of Medicine. Further Reading In 1947, Masters was appointed to the faculty of Hoffman, Edward. The Right to be Human: A Biography of Washington University, where he conducted research in Abraham Maslow. Los Angeles: Tarcher, 1988. areas including hormone-replacement therapy for post- menopausal women. In 1954, he began researching the physiology of sex by collecting data about sexual stimu- lation in a laboratory situation. His work, which took Masochism place at Washington University, was supported by a grant from the United States Institute of Health. By See Paraphilias 1956, Virginia Johnson,a sociology student, was assist- ing Masters interview and screen research volunteers. Over an 11-year period, Masters studied 382 women and 312 men ranging in age from 18 to 89, recording their sexual responses using electrocardiographs and elec- William Masters troencephalographs. 1915- Masters established the Reproductive Biology Re- American physician and researcher who, in collab- search Foundation in 1964. Two years later, Masters and oration with Virginia Johnson, pioneered in the Johnson published the results of their long-term labora- physiological study of human sexual function. tory investigation of the physiology of human sexual ac- tivity in Human Sexual Response. This book is generally William Masters was born in Cleveland, Ohio, grew up considered to be the first major scientific analysis of the in Kansas City, and did his undergraduate work at Hamilton subject, and was produced to provide physicians and College. He received his M.D. degree in 1943 from the Uni- psychologists with factual information useful in the versity of Rochester School of Medicine, where he assisted treatment of sexual dysfunction. Despite the book’s pro- in the laboratory research of George Washington Corner, motion solely as a serious research work, it won wide who was studying and comparing the reproductive systems popular acclaim, and its authors were soon in demand as of animals and humans. Masters’s interest in the study of speakers and lecturers. 406 GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION

Since 1959, Masters and Johnson had been applying psychology, with its focus on the individual, as opposed their studies to counseling sexually dysfunctional cou- to the behaviorist psychology and Freudian psychoanaly- Rollo May ples, working together as a team so that each member of sis that was prevalent in the 1940s and 1950s. May’s a couple would have a therapist of the same sex to relate writings were both practical and spiritual and they pro- to. Having found sexual functioning susceptible to con- moted the power and worth of the individual. As such, ditioning, much like other human and animal behaviors, they contributed to the development of the human po- they used learning strategies based on the theories of tential movement. May maintained that widespread Ivan Pavlov, B. F. Skinner,Wolpe, and others. Follow- alienation and anxiety were a result of breakdown and ing the principles of operant conditioning and desensi- upheaval in culture and society, rather than the result of tization, they helped their patients “unlearn” blocks in- individual psychological problems. Among May’s many volving arousal and/or orgasm. Masters and Johnson honors were the annual award of the New York Society were married in 1971 and became co-directors of the of Clinical Psychologists in 1954 and a 1971 gold medal Masters and Johnson Institute in 1973. In their 1979 from the American Psychological Association. work, Homosexuality in Perspective, Masters and John- Born in Ada, Ohio, in 1909, as Reece May, he was son detailed the results of studies based on the responses the second of six children of Earl Tittle May and Matie of homosexuals and lesbians, whose sexual preferences Boughton. His father, a field secretary for the Young they claimed to be able to change. Men’s Christian Association, moved the family to Michi- Masters retired from private practice in gynecology gan when May was still a child. Although initially he was in 1981, although he and his wife continued to operate a reticent student, at Michigan State College of Agricul- the Masters and Johnson Institute, which moved to a new ture and Applied Science (now Michigan State Universi- location that year. In 1988, they co-authored the book ty) in East Lansing, he co-founded a magazine that was Crisis: Heterosexual Behavior in the Age of AIDS with critical of the state legislature. The flap that followed Robert Kolodny, attracting criticism within the medical caused him to transfer to Oberlin College, a small liberal community—including that of then Attorney General C. arts school in Ohio. An English major, with a minor in Everett Koop—for their prediction that the AIDS epidem- Greek literature and history, May graduated in 1930 and ic would spread to the heterosexual population. Masters spent the next three years teaching English in Salonika, and Johnson were divorced in 1992, ending their work to- Greece. During that period, he attended seminars in Vien- gether at the Institute. Their other books include Human na, Austria, with the famous psychoanalyst Alfred Adler. Sexual Inadequacy (1970), The Pleasure Bond (1974), Human Sexuality (1988), and Heterosexuality (1994). Studies for the ministry Further Reading In 1933 May entered the Union Theological Semi- Robinson, Paul. The Modernization of Sex. New York: Harper nary in New York City. His studies were interrupted for & Row, 1976. two years when his parents divorced. He returned to Michigan to help with his younger siblings and worked as a student adviser at Michigan State. In 1938, he earned his divinity degree from Union, studying with the existential- Masturbation ist theologian Paul Tillich. May married Florence De Frees in 1938, and eventually they had a son and twin See Autoeroticism daughters. After two years as a minister at a Congrega- tional Church in New Jersey, May decided that his true in- terests lay in psychology. In 1939, he published The Art of Counseling: How to Gain and Give Mental Health, and two years later his second book, Springs of Creative Liv- Rollo May ing: A Study of Human Nature and God,was published. 1909-1994 In 1942, May was stricken with tuberculosis. After American existential psychoanalyst who popular- eighteen months in a sanitarium in upstate New York, he ized a humanistic, spiritually based psychology. decided that his attitudes and his personal will were more important to his recovery than the treatments. He Rollo May was one of the most influential American entered the graduate psychology program at Columbia psychologists of the twentieth century. He helped to in- University in New York City, receiving his Ph.D. in clin- troduce European existential psychoanalysis to an ical psychology in 1949 with the highest honors. In the American audience. He was a founder of humanistic decades that followed, May’s dissertation, The Meaning GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION 407

William McDougall of Anxiety, published in 1950, and revised in 1977, had a May, Rollo. Man’s Search for Himself. New York: Norton, 1953. Reeves, Clement. The Psychology of Rollo May; with Reflec- major influence on the development of humanistic psy- tions and Commentary by Rollo May. San Francisco: chology. He argued that culture was in an “age of anxi- Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1977. ety” and, furthermore, that channeling his own high anx- Serlin, Ilene A. “Rollo May.” Tikkun 10 (January-February, iety was a major factor in overcoming his tuberculosis. 1995): 65. By 1948, May had become an assistant professor of psychiatry at the William Alanson White Institute of Psy- chiatry, Psychoanalysis, and Psychology in New York City. In 1958, he became the training and supervisory psychoanalyst there. He remained at the Institute until William McDougall his retirement in 1974. He also served as an adjunct pro- fessor of clinical psychology at New York University and 1871-1938 as a lecturer in psychotherapy at the New School for British experimental psychologist who developed a theory of human instincts and studied psychic phe- Social Research from 1955 until 1976. May held visiting nomena. professorships at Harvard, Princeton, and Yale Universi- ties, and at Brooklyn College. In 1973, he became a Re- gents’ Professor at the University of California at Santa William McDougall was an experimental psycholo- Cruz. May maintained a private psychoanalysis practice gist and theorist of wide-ranging interests. Above all, he in New York City and, following his retirement from believed in a holistic psychology that utilized every academia, in Tiburon, California. available tool for understanding the human psyche. He was the first to formulate a theory of human instinctual behavior, and he influenced the development of the new Writings influence the activists of the 1960s field of social psychology. May was a prolific and influential author whose Born in 1871, in Lancashire, England, the second books often were aimed at the general reader. His major son of Rebekah Smalley and Isaac Shimwell McDougall, works included Existential Psychology in 1961, Psychol- a wealthy Scottish industrialist, McDougall was educat- ogy and the Human Dilemma in 1967, The Courage to ed at a local private school and then at the Realgynmna- Create in 1975, Freedom and Destiny in 1981, and The sium in Weimar, Germany. Although his father wanted Cry for Myth in 1991. Love and Will, published in 1969, him to study law or work in the family businesses, his won the Ralph Waldo Emerson Award of Phi Beta Kappa mother supported his desire to become a scientist. and became a guidebook for political and social activists. In 1972, Power and Innocence: A Search for the Sources of Violence won the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Award Studies medicine and psychology from the New York Society of Clinical Psychologists. In At 15, McDougall entered the university in Man- May’s later writings, the “age of anxiety” became the chester, earning degrees in biology and geology. A schol- “age of despair.” To reach a larger audience, May made a arship took him to St. John’s College of Cambridge Uni- number of sound recordings. versity, where he received his B.A. in natural science in May and his first wife were divorced in 1969 and in 1894. It was at Cambridge that McDougall became inter- 1971 he married Ingrid Schöll. That marriage ended in ested in the melding of biology and the social sciences. 1978. In 1989, May married Georgia Lee Miller John- Another scholarship enabled him to study medicine at son. May was a member of numerous professional orga- St. Thomas Hospital in London. He earned his medical nizations and his honorary degrees included L.H.D.s degree in 1898, with specialties in physiology and neu- from Kingfisher College of the University of Oklahoma, rology. He was awarded the Grainger Testimonial Prize St. Regis College, St. Vincent College, Michigan State for his research on muscle contractions. However, the University, Rockford College, Ohio Northern University, work of William James inspired McDougall to pursue and Oberlin College. He died of congestive heart failure psychology. at his home in Tiburon, California, in 1994. In 1898, McDougall became a fellow of St. John’s College, as a result of his proposal for a neurophysiolog- Margaret Alic ical study of the mind-body problem. In 1899 he accom- Further Reading panied the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to the Crompton, Samuel Willard. “May, Rollo.” In American Nation- Torres Straits near New Guinea as the attending physi- al Biography, edited by John A. Garraty and Mark C. cian. His studies from the expedition, The Pagan Tribes Carnes. Vol. 14. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. of Borneo, with Charles Hose, were published in 1912. 408 GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION

published in 1908, was also his most influential. In it, Mc- Dougall introduced his controversial theory of instincts, arguing that all human behavior, including social relation- ships, could be explained by the many instincts which William McDougall were related to primary emotions. For example, fleeing was an instinct related to the emotion of fear. In later writings, instincts became “propensities” and he argued that the purpose of an instinct was to move one toward a goal. He called this “purposive” or “hormic” psychology. Pursues paranormal psychology In 1911, McDougall published Body and Mind in which he argued for the scientific existence of the human soul and discussed psychic research. His interest in para- normal psychology, including mental telepathy and clair- voyance, was increasing. In 1912, he was named a fel- low of Corpus Christi College at Oxford. That same year, he became a fellow of the Royal Society of Lon- don. He served as vice-president of the Psychiatric Sec- tion of the Royal Society of Medicine from 1914 until 1918, when he became president. In 1920 he became president of the British Society for Psychical Research. With the onset of World War I, McDougall joined the French army as an ambulance driver. Between 1915 William McDougall (Archives of the History of American and 1919, he served as a major in the British Army Med- Psychology. Reproduced with permission.) ical Corps where he worked with victims of shell shock (post-traumatic stress disorder). This work led, in 1926, to his Outline of Abnormal Psychology. Introduces experimental psychology in England Moves to Harvard University In 1900, McDougall married Annie Aurelia Hick- more and the couple eventually had three sons and two McDougall moved to the United States in 1920, ac- daughters. They spent their first year together in Göttin- cepting the William James Chair of Psychology at Har- gen, Germany, where McDougall studied experimental vard University. Outline of Psychology, published in psychology with G. E. Müller. McDougall then became 1923, is considered to be one of his most important a lecturer at University College, London. His first publi- books. However McDougall was not well-received at cations, “On the Seat of the Psycho-Physical Processes” Harvard, due to the racist nature of his views on eugenics and “New Observations in Support of Thomas Young’s and his opposition to behaviorism. His debate with John Theory of Light- and Color-Vision, I-III” appeared in B. Watson was published in 1928 as The Battle of Behav- 1901. These were followed by papers on the physiology iorism. His interest in psychic phenomena also was con- of attention and on the senses. In London, he also began troversial. McDougall became president of the American working with Francis Galton and Charles Spearman Society for Psychical Research and investigated the on mental testing and eugenics, the theory that genetics medium known as “Margery” (Mina S. Crandon), whom could be used to improve the human race. McDougall he eventually decided was a fraud. In 1925, he co-found- co-founded the British Psychological Society in 1901. ed the Boston Society for Psychical Research. He also co-founded the British Journal of Psychology. In 1927, McDougall became chairman of the Psy- In 1904, McDougall moved to Oxford University as chology Department at Duke University in North Caroli- the Wilde Reader in Mental Philosophy, a post he held na. There he supported the establishment of the Parapsy- until 1920. He was the first experimental psychologist at chology Laboratory and in the last year of his life he co- Oxford. The first of McDougall’s textbooks, Physiological edited the Journal of Parapsychology. McDougall also Psychology,was published in 1905. One of his most suc- continued experiments in which he attempted to prove cessful texts, An Introduction to Social Psychology,first that white rats could inherit acquired traits. He wrote cri- GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION 409

Margaret Mead tiques of dynamic, Gestalt, and Freudian psychologies, burgeoning field. After receiving her M.A. in psychology in 1924, she conducted her first field work in American exemplified by his 1935 book, Psychoanalysis and Social Samoa, where she observed adolescent girls to determine Psychology. He also wrote books on a variety of social is- sues, including world peace. In all, McDougall wrote if the turmoil associated with adolescence in the West is more than 20 books and 167 articles. He held an honorary universal. Living with her research subjects in a Samoan doctorate from the University of Manchester and was pant-observer method developed by British anthropolo- named an honorary fellow of St. John’s College, Cam- village, Mead was the first American to use the partici- bridge, in 1938. McDougall died of cancer in Durham, gist Bronislaw Malinowski (1884-1942). Upon her re- North Carolina, in 1938. In 1957, the Parapsychology turn to the United States, she received her Ph.D. in an- Laboratory at Duke established the McDougall Award for thropology in 1929 and published Coming of Age in Distinguished Work in Parapsychology. Samoa (1928), in which she presented a portrait of Samoan culture as free from the sturm und drang of the See also Parapsychology teen years in Western societies because preparation for adulthood is a continuous process that begins early in Margaret Alic life rather than a series of stages, which create a more stressful transition process. Further Reading Mead did extensive field work throughout the 1920s Nordby, Vernon J. and Calvin S. Hall. A Guide to Psycholo- and 1930s. After her initial trip, she was always joined gists and Their Concepts. San Francisco: W. H. Freeman by a collaborator. These included her second husband, and Company, 1974. New Zealand psychologist Reo Fortune, and her third McCurdy, Harold G. “McDougall, William.” In Thinkers of the Twentieth Century, edited by Elizabeth Devine, Michael husband, the British anthropologist Gregory Bateson, Held, James Vinson, and George Walsh., 373-75. Detroit: whom she married in 1935. Mead and Bateson conduct- Gale Research Company, 1983. ed two years of intensive field work together in Bali, McDougall, William. The Riddle of Life: A Survey of Theories. pursuing their different research interests. They pio- London: Methuen, 1938. neered the use of film as a resource for anthropological Van Over, Raymond and Laura Oteri, eds. William McDougall: research, shooting some 22,000 feet of film as well as Explorer of the Mind: Studies in Psychical Research. New thousands of still photographs. Besides the Balinese, York: Garrett, 1967. groups studied by Mead included the Manus people of the Admiralty Islands, and the Arapesh, Mundugumor, Tchambuli, and Iatmul of New Guinea. A tireless investi- gator, she made many repeat visits to her research sites; Margaret Mead over a 47-year period, she observed the Manus people seven times. Having studied seven different Pacific cul- 1901-1978 tures as well as the Omaha tribe of North America, Mead American anthropologist whose work emphasized became convinced of the importance of culture as a de- the relationship between culture and personality terminant of personality, following in the footsteps of formation. Alfred Adler in the field of psychology and Ruth Bene- dict in anthropology. Mead detailed her theories of char- Margaret Mead was born in Philadelphia to a family acter formation and culture in Sex and Temperament in of educators. In her youth, her main influences were her Three Primitive Societies (1935) and expanded further mother and maternal grandmother, both of whom had on the role of culture in gender formation in her 1949 raised families and also pursued careers. Mead’s formal work, Male and Female: A Study of the Sexes in a education before entering college was sporadic, and she Changing World. (Although Mead’s stature as an anthro- was mainly educated at home by her grandmother. An pologist is unquestioned, there has been some specula- unhappy year at DePauw University turned Mead against tion that her subjects may have systematically lied to her coeducation, and she subsequently transferred to during her investigations.)In contrast to Sigmund Freud’s Barnard College. She first concentrated in English and dictum, “anatomy is destiny,” Mead found gender roles psychology but became interested in anthropology under to be culturally determined rather than innate, noting that the influence of Columbia University anthropologists behavior regarded as masculine in one culture could be Franz Boas (1858-1942) and Ruth Benedict (1887- considered feminine in another. 1948). Boas was urgently organizing ethnographic inves- tigations of primitive cultures throughout the world be- Mead’s professional skills were enlisted by the Unit- fore eventual contact with modern society, and he con- ed States government during World War II to analyze the vinced Mead that she could make a contribution to this cultural characteristics of its wartime adversaries, the 410 GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION

Margaret Mead (sitting) with Manus children during 1928 visit to Admiralty Islands. (UPI/Bettmann. Reproduced with permisison.) Mean Germans and Japanese, and facilitate relations with its Anthropology: A Human Science (1964), Blackberry allies, especially the British. From 1926 to 1964, Mead Winter (1972), an autobiographical account of her early was associated with the American Museum of Natural life, and Letters from the Field, 1925-1975 (1977). History in New York City as a curator of ethnology, See also Child development; Conditioning; Sexuality eventually attaining the status of curator emeritus. She became an adjunct professor at Columbia in 1954 and Further Reading also held a number of visiting professorships elsewhere. Bateson, Mary Catherine. With a Daughter’s Eye: A Memoir of Mead was also the chairperson of the Social Sciences di- Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson. New York: William vision of Fordham University beginning in 1968. She Morrow, 1984. served as president of the World Federation of Mental Foerstel, Lenora, and Angela Gilliam, eds. Confronting the Mar- Health (1956-57), the American Anthropological Associ- garet Mead Legacy: Scholarship, Empire, and the South ation (1960), and the American Association for the Ad- Pacific. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1992. vancement of Science (1975). Beginning in the 1960s, Holmes, Lowell D. Quest for the Real Samoa: The Mead/Free- Mead’s influence expanded to include a wider audience, man Controversy and Beyond. South Hadley, MA: Bergin as she agreed to write a monthly column for Redbook & Garvey, 1987. magazine, in which she discussed topics she had concen- Rice, Edward. Margaret Mead: A Portrait. New York: Harper trated on for much of her career—child-rearing practices & Row, 1979. and the family. In turn, she used her readers’ letters to learn more about the concerns of American women. Mead was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Her other books include Growing Up in New Guinea (1930), Balinese Character (with Gregory Mean Bateson, 1942), Soviet Attitudes Toward Authority The sum of the values of the points in a data set di- (1951), Childhood in Contemporary Societies (1955), vided by the number of points. GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION 411

Measurement HEIGHTS IN CENTIMETERS OF FIFTEEN validity. However, a test can be reliable without being valid. If a person wanted to make a prediction about EXAMPLE an individual’s personality based on an SAT score, they would not succeed very well because the SAT is not a valid test for that purpose, even though it would CHILDREN ARE: still be reliable. 124, 137, 144, 136, 157, 129, 130, 131, 125, 128, 133, 133, 129 Another dimension of measurement involves what is called the scale of measurement. There are four different Sum equals 1995; divide by 15 to get the mean of scales of measurement: nominal, ordinal, interval, and 133. ratio. Nominal scales involve simple categorization but does not make use of the notion of comparisons like larger, bigger, and better. Ordinal scales involve ranking In statistics, the mean refers to the value that results different elements in some dimension. Interval scales are when all the scores in a data set are added together and used to assess by how much two measurements differ, the total is divided by the number of scores in the data and ratio scales can determine the difference between set. In the example, the mean for a set of fifteen data measurements and by how much. One advantage of points is calculated. The mean balances the scores on ei- more complex scales of measurement is that they can be ther side of it. Also called the arithmetic mean or aver- applied to more sophisticated research. More complex age, the mean is one of the measures of central tendency; scales also lend themselves to more useful statistical the others being the median and the mode. tests that give researchers more confidence in the results of their work. Further Reading Peavy, J. Virgil. Descriptive Statistics: Measures of Central Tendency and Dispersion. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services/Public Health Service, Cen- ters for Disease Control, 1981. Median The middle value in a group of measurements. Measurement In statistics, the median represents the middle value in a group of measurements. It is a commonly used indi- The assessment of a trait or feature against a stan- cator of what measurement is typical or normal for a dard scale. group. The median is joined by the mean and the mode to create a grouping called measures of central tendency. Psychologists rely heavily on measurements for Although the mean is used more frequently than the me- very different purposes, ranging from clinical diagnoses dian, the median is still an important measure of central based on test scores to the effects of an independent tendency because it is not affected by the presence or a variable on a dependent variable in an experiment. score that is extremely high or extremely low relative to Several different issues arise when considering mea- the other numbers in the group. surement. One consideration is whether the measure- See also Mode ment shows reliability and validity. Reliability refers to consistency: if the results of a test or measurement are Further Reading reliable, a person should receive a similar score if tested Peavy, J. Virgil. Descriptive Statistics: Measures of Central on different occasions. Validity refers to whether the Tendency and Dispersion. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Dept. of measurement will be useful for the purposes for which it Health and Human Services/Public Health Service, Cen- is intended. ters for Disease Control, 1981. The Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) is reason- ably reliable, for example, because many students ob- tain nearly the same score if they take the test more EXAMPLE than once. If the test score is valid, it should be useful for predicting how well a student will perform in col- 125-128-129-129-129-130-130-131-133 lege. Research suggests that the SAT is a sufficient but not perfect predictor of how well students will per- The median is 129. form in their first year in college; thus, it shows some 412 GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION

world around them, it is important to explore what we Media psychology are getting from the media. Area of psychology that researches the complex Media psychology ways in which media influence attitudes, behavior, Processing information and feelings. There are different theories on how we understand what we see and hear. The culturalist approach suggests According to reports the average American house- that the meaning or interpretation of media is subjective hold has the television on for about seven hours a day. It or individualized. Since perception involves all the is also reported that young people are increasingly turn- senses and also giving meaning to all information a per- ing to the Internet as a form of escape and information- son takes in, different people can get different meanings gathering. The movie industry spends billions of dollars from the same media. The memory has patterns of or- on new films every year. Advertising currently has more ganization, also called scripts or schemata, which con- outlets, like television, billborads, magazines, radio, the tain strings of associations that are activated by new ex- Internet, and even movies, than it has ever had in history. periences. New fragments of information are added to And while reading is taking a backseat to newer techno- the existing scripts whenever we experience something logical forms of media, newspapers are still a primary new. For instance, when you go to see a movie about source for news about the world. On a planet filled with slavery, your memory brings up the script you have information and entertainment, in a time when our social about that topic. All relevant information is added to evolution seems bound to media, it is more important what you are seeing in the movie. You may even think than ever to study its effects. you see things in the movie that are not there, but exist in your perception because your script is running while What does psychology have to do with you experience the film. media? Perception is also affected by our belief systems, at- titudes, and needs. For instance, if you are someone In academic discussions of mass media, psychology who is a passivist, that is, a person who does not con- has long provided concepts, techniques, and theories of done violence at any time, you may watch a movie its function. All media can be described in simple terms, about war and take away the message that the movie like someone saying a movie was funny or sad, or saying was showing what a tragedy violence can be. If some- an article was very polished, or describing the Internet as one who is patriotic or fascinated by weaponry watches chaotic. But when the theories of a discipline are added the same movie, they may think the movie was glorify- to an analysis of something, those theories give the sub- ing war and showing off some of the best guns ever ject matter a framework, or a theoretical perspective. made. In this way, it is said that there exists selective Psychology, for example, brings cognitive theories to perception,or, “the principle of least effort.” It is easier media studies. Such theories look at the interactions be- to perceive messages that go along with what you ex- tween receivers and the media. pect or believe. Every receiver of information has their What psychologists have discovered about media own frame of reference, or place they are coming from and people is varied, and the research has really just when they receive new media. begun. Some psychologists explore the messages we see Psychologists also study how media acts as a social and hear and the effects those messages have on people. tool. People joining book clubs, or a bunch of kids going For instance, psychology has been studying the way to the movies together and then talking about what they women are portrayed on television. Women on television saw, friends asking each other if they’d seen the latest are generally very, very thin. Some psychologists have episode of the hottest new show on T.V., or families done research that suggests that the thin women on tele- watching television together are instances of meanings vision make a stereotype that dictates that women being created socially. Groups of people discussing should be thin, and if real-life women have different media might be called “interpretive communities,” of body sizes they do not feel good about themselves. “reference groups.” You may use different scripts, or Sometimes it is what we do not see and hear in the media frames of reference, depending on the social group you that makes or enforces a stereotype. For instance, have are with because our interpretive communites also influ- you ever seen a sitcom that centers around an Asian- ence our perception. American family? Not seeing Asian-Americans on tele- vision keeps such people invisible in the mainstream of See also Television and aggression society. Since the media has become a source of shared cultural experience that people use to understand the Lara Lynn Lane GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION 413

Medical psychology Further Reading scholarship led also to a post as a professor in the med- ical school’s Department of Psychiatry, in the Minneso- Perspectives on Psychology and the Media Washington, D.C.: APA, 1997. ta Center for the Philosophy of Science, and on the fac- Psychology and the Media: A Second Look Washington, D.C.: ulty of the Department of Philosophy. Among his many APA, 1999. roles is his seat on the Advisory Board of Philosophy, A Cognitive Psychology of Mass Communication Harris, Psychiatry, & Psychology, published by The Johns Hop- Richard Jackson, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publish- ers, 1994. Meehl’s pursuits since his early career have Becker, Samuel L. “Constructing the World in Your Head: kins University Press. How Mass Media Influences the Way People Process In- reached a broad spectrum of interests and concerns. He formation,” ETC.: A Review of General Semantics, vol. has focused on the field of clinical psychology, in par- 44, no. 4, (Winter 1987): 373-382. ticular clinical assessment, and in personality, learn- Buck, Ross. “Nonverbal Communication: Spontaneous and ing, psychometrics, and the philosophy of science. Symbolic Aspects,” American Behavioral Scientist, vol. Meehl’s exploration into the learning process led to his 31, no. 3, (Jan/Feb 1988). influence in the field of assessment. Traditionally, Comstock, George and Stuart Fischoff. “The Field and the Dis- using subjective clinical judgment was used to perform cipline.” American Behavioral Scientist, vol.35, no.2, psychological assessments. Meehl’s work changed this (Nov/Dec 1991). McIlwrath, Robert, et. al. “Television Addiction: Theories and approach. He developed ways to make assessments on Data Behind the Ubiquitous Metaphor.” American Behav- an actuarial basis in line with quantitative standards. ioral Scientist, vol.35, no.2, (Nov/Dec 1991): 104-121. This approach was instrumental in the eventual com- Reeces, Byron and Daniel R. Anderson. “Media Studies and puterized evaluation of psychological tests and revolu- Psychology.” Communication Research, vol.16, no.5, tionized testing forever. (October 1991): 597-600. Shapiro, Michael A. and Annie Lang. “Making Television Re- ality: Unconscious Processes in the Construction of So- Respected by colleagues cial Reality.” Communication Research, vol.18, no.5, (Oc- tober 1991): 685-705. Meehl’s work in testing was as significant among his own colleagues as it was with the general population. For the American Psychological Association (APA),he served as a member of the Committee on Test Standards and as chair for the Special Committee on Certification Medical psychology and Licensure of Psychologists. His professional contri- butions have represented a continually evolving passion See Health psychology for the scientific treatment of psychological study. Perhaps Meehl’s most significant contribution to his field was the fact that he helped prepare many of the most prominent practicing psychologists in the United States. He has been a leader in psychotherapy, behavior genet- Paul J. Meehl ics, the philosophy of science, and forensic psychology, authoring over 160 publications. One of his first major 1920- American clinical psychologist and pioneer in the studies was published in Modern Learning Theory in field of learning theory. 1954. In 1958 Meehl published What, Then, Is Man? Ac- tive as a Lutheran layman, he co-authored this mono- graph exploring the relationship between behavioral sci- Minnesota professor influenced the world ence and Christian faith. Three of his works published in Paul Everett Meehl, born on January 3, 1920, is a the 1990s reflected his current area of research. As Meehl renowned expert in various aspects of clinical psychol- himself noted, that work covers three areas; first, the de- ogy. He earned his A.B. from the University of Min- velopment of testing of taxometric (assigning objects to nesota in 1941, where he remained throughout his entire appropriate classes) statistical procedures for the classifi- professional career. In 1945 he was awarded his doctor- cation and genetic analysis of mental disorders and per- ate from the same institution. His career as a faculty sonality types, second, cliometric (the use of mathemati- member at Minnesota has included his position as chair cal and statistical methods, often using computers, in of the Department of Psychology from 1951 through order to analyze historical data) metatheory, and third, 1958. In 2000 Meehl remains actively engaged in re- philosophical and mathematical contributions to the sig- search and is the Regents’ (Emeritus) Professor. His nificance test controversy. His later publications include 414 GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION

Cliometric Metatheory: The actuarial approach to empir- Melancholic depression is characterized by other ical, history-based philosophy of science in 1992. features as well. The quality of the depressed mood is Memory unique, differing from the sadness that an emotionally Meehl’s impact throughout psychology, philosophy, healthy person would feel even in response to a very and medicine was significant enough to earn him numer- painful event, such as the death of a loved one. The de- ous awards from his professional associations through- pression tends to be worse in the morning and associat- out his career. One of his earliest awards was that for ed with early morning awakening (at least two hours be- Distinguished Scientific Contributions from the APA in fore the normal waking time). There is often a marked 1958. Meehl was awarded the “Centennial Award” on change in the affected person’s physical movements, August 9, 1996, from Division 12 of the APA in honor of which can become either agitated or slowed down. 100 years of clinical psychology. This award honored the Many persons suffering from melancholic depression pioneering work he had done when the study of psychol- show significant weight loss, with or without anorexic ogy was only beginning to gain scientific recognition. behavior. A final feature is the presence of intense and He has served as a member and Diplomate on the Ameri- inappropriate guilt feelings. can Board of Professional Psychology (Clinical). A person is officially classified as suffering from de- Meehl’s major contributions to the field of psychol- pression with melancholic features when the persistent ogy were his systematic and mathematical methods of feelings of unhappiness are accompanied by at least research. He pioneered this systematic approach to diag- three of the other symptoms listed above. Individuals nosis and evaluation. In addition to research, Meehl op- with melancholic depression generally respond to anti- erated a private practice where he performed psychother- depressant medications or electroconvulsive therapy. De- apy using both psychoanalytical and rational approaches. pression with melancholic features occurs equally in See also Assessment, psychological both men and women but more often in older persons and more frequently in hospital inpatients than outpa- Jane Spear tients. Organic conditions associated with melancholic depression include hyperadrenocorticism, reduced rapid eye movement (REM) latency, and dexamethasone non- Further Reading suppression. American Psychological Association. Meehl Publications, Pro- fessional Information Available at the American Psycho- Further Reading logical Association Website at: http://www.apa.org, 2000. Ostow, Mortimer. The Psychology of Melancholy. New York: Benner, David G., and Hill, Peter C., ed. Baker Encyclopedia Harper & Row, 1970. of Psychology & Counseling Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1999. Memory improvement Melancholia See Memory; Mnemonic strategies Melancholia is both an outdated term for depres- sion itself and, currently, a clinically defined char- acteristic of major depression listed in the Diagnos- tic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Memory The term “melancholia” is derived from the Greek words melas, meaning black, and chole, meaning bile, The ability to store and later recall previously learned and is a vestige of the ancient belief that a person’s facts and experiences. health and temperament are determined by the relative proportions of the four cardinal humors, or body fluids, The brain’s capacity to remember remains one of which are blood, phlegm, choler (yellow bile), and the least understood areas of science. What is understood melancholy (black bile). The central feature of melan- is that memory is a process that occurs constantly and in cholic depression is persistent and unremitting sad- varying stages. The memory process occurs in three ness. Persons suffering from this disorder are unable to stages: encoding, storage, and retrieval. Conditions pre- enjoy normally pleasurable experiences, even brief sent during each of these stages affect the quality of the ones, and they exhibit a greatly reduced sensitivity to memory, and breakdowns at any of these points can pleasurable stimuli. cause memory failure. GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION 415

Memory Stages of Memory there is room in short-term memory for an average of seven items, plus or minus two (known as magic num- ber seven). In experiments in which subjects are asked to recall a series of unrelated numbers or words, for ex- ample, some are able to recall nine and others only five, Encoding but most will recall seven words. As the list of things to be remembered increases, new items can displace previ- ous items in the current list. Memory uses a process called “chunking” to increase the capacity of short-term memory. While most people still can use only seven Storage “slots” of memory, facts or information can be grouped in meaningful ways to form a chunk of memory. These chunks of related items then act as one item within short-term memory. Long-term memory contains information that has Retrieval been stored for longer periods of time, ranging from a few minutes to a lifetime. When translating information for long-term memory, the brain uses meaning as a pri- The first stage, encoding, is the reception by the mary method for encoding. When attempting to recall a brain of some physical input that is changed into a form list of unrelated words, for instance, subjects often try to that the memory accepts. When a person is introduced link the words in a sentence. The more the meaning of to someone new, for example, that person’s name be- the information is elaborated, the more it will be re- comes a part of memory. Before information can be en- called. Voices, odors, and tastes also are stored in long- coded, it first must be recognized and noted by the re- term memory, which indicates that other means of en- cipient. During the second stage, storage, learned facts coding besides meaning, are also used. Items are regular- or experiences are retained in either short-term or long- ly transferred back and forth from short-term to long- term memory. In the third, or retrieval, stage, memory term memory. For example, rehearsing facts can transfer allows the previously learned facts or experiences to be short-term memory into long-term. The chunking recalled. Each of these stages play an important role in process in long-term memory can increase the capacity both short-term and long-term memory, although it is of short-term memory when various chunks of informa- believed they work differently depending on which tion are called upon to be used. memory is used. The breakdown in the retrieval of information from As the term implies, short-term memory is used for either memory can be the result of various factors, in- items that need recall over short periods of time, some- cluding interference, decay, or storage problems. In ad- times as little as seconds. It is believed that short-term dition, researchers believe it is unlikely that all experi- memories are encoded either visually or acoustically. Vi- ences or facts are stored in memory and thus are avail- sual encoding is primary for recalling faces, places, and able for retrieval. Emotional factors, including anxiety, other visual experiences, while acoustic encoding is also contribute to memory failure in certain situations. most important for verbal material. After looking up a Test anxiety, for example, may cause a student to forget number in a telephone book, for example, most people factual information despite how well it has been repeat the number to themselves several times before di- learned. Amnesia,a partial or total loss of memory, aling the number. Rather than visualizing the written may be caused by stroke, injury to the brain, surgery, al- form of the numbers, the sound of the words becomes cohol dependence, encephalitis, and electroconvulsive the means for recall. Experiments have demonstrated the therapy (ECT). importance of acoustic coding in the ability to recall lists Many methods can be used to improve memory. of words or letters as well. When subjects were asked to Long-term memory may be improved using mnemonic, recall a sequence of letters, those who made errors re- or memory-aiding, systems. One, the “method of loci” placed the correct letter with a similarly sounding letter, system, encourages an association between various im- for example “D” instead of “T.” ages and unrelated words. The “key word” method of Adequate operation of short-term memory is crucial learning a foreign language links the pronunciation of a when performing such everyday activities as reading or new word with a picture that corresponds to the sound of conversing. However, the capacity of short-term memo- the word. Context is another powerful memory aid that ry is quite limited. Studies have shown consistently that recognizes that people recall more easily facts or events 416 GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION

FALSE AND RECOVERED MEMORIES Memory As of the late 1990s, research into recovered mem- One of the problems with the recovery of repressed ories was characterized by tremendous controversy. A memories is the very process of recovery. Many individu- leading researcher in this subject, Elizabeth Loftus, con- als recover memories while in therapy, under hypnosis, or ducted studies on over 20,000 subjects, and pointed to in some other situation where the possibility of suggestion evidence she felt was convincing that memory is both is powerful. In the late 1990s, in response to the swelling fragile and unreliable. Her work supported, the notion controversy over recovered memories, the American Med- that eyewitness accounts of events are often inaccurate, ical Association, American Psychiatric Association, and and that false memories can be created through sugges- American Psychological Association all issued guidelines tion in approximately 25% of the population. Loftus’s to help practitioners deal with reports of recovered mem- work calls into question the validity of memories that ories, especially of sexual abuse during childhood. In gen- are recovered under coaching or questioning; such eral, most physicians, psychiatrists, and psychologists sug- memories have provided the basis for countless lawsuits gest that recovered memories be corroborated through ex- brought against adults who are accused of molesting ternal investigation, and that alternative explanations for children. Her research has shown that emotional state— the existence of the memories be considered before any either low points, such as boredom or sleepiness or high legal action be taken based on them. points, such as stress or trauma—decrease the reliability of memory. She has also shown that experiencing vio- False memory syndrome is dividing the field of pro- lent and traumatic events decreases the accuracy of fessional psychotherapy. Some psychotherapists believe memory. Loftus theorizes that memory is suggestible that to question the interpretation of and belief in recov- and deteriorates over time. In her classic study, known ered memories is to undermine the possibility of the exis- as “Lost in the Shopping Mall,” she demonstrated that tence of repression; others see the challenge to recovered subjects—children and teenagers—could be induced to memories as a sign of society’s refusal to confront a seri- remember being lost in a mall at an early age, even ous problem with child abuse and abuse of women. Oth- though it never actually happened, by simply question- ers contend that there are no psychoanalytic theories to ing them about it as if it had happened. support forgetting of traumatic events, or their detailed recall after the passage of time. more easily if they are placed in the same environment memory has been recovered under coaching. Researcher in which they learned them. For example, a person is Elizabeth Loftus, who conducted studies on 20,000 sub- more likely to recall specific memories from high school jects, found that false memories could be created through if they go to the school and retrace their paths. suggestion in 25% of the population; eye witness ac- counts, she found, are often inaccurate. The emotional Imposing a meaningful organization on an unrelated state of either low points, such as boredom or sleepiness group of facts or words also improves memory. The or high points, such as stress or trauma, decrease the ac- EGBDF notes that represent the lines on a musical staff curacy of memory, Loftus found. She theorizes that often are recalled using the sentence, “Every good boy memory deteriorates over time and is vulnerable to sug- does fine.” The sentence has nothing to do with music; gestion. In one study, known as “Lost in the Shopping rather, it places a meaning on letters that, at first glance, Mall,” Loftus demonstrated that subjects, children and seem random. Another notable mnemonic system, the teenagers, could be induced to remember being lost in a PQRST method, is helpful in assisting students learn mall at an early age by simply questioning them about textbook material. The letters correspond to the five the experience as if it happened. steps of the method: preview, question, read, self-recita- tion and test. In response to increasing controversy over recovered memories, the American Medical Association, American Questions of the reliability and fragility of memory Psychiatric Association and American Psychological As- have surrounded the controversy of false and recovered sociation all issued guidelines to help practitioners deal memory that surface under questioning primarily by psy- with reports of recovered memories, especially of sexual chotherapists. As lawsuits based upon recovered memory abuse during childhood. Before any legal action is taken have been filed against adults accused of molesting chil- based on recovered memories, most physicians, psychia- dren and in at least one case, the death of a childhood trists, and psychologists suggest that recovered memo- friend, recovered memories have come under scrutiny ries receive corroboration through external investigation and questions raised about the validity, especially when and an alternative explanation for the existence of the GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION 417

Mental age memories be considered. The field of professional psy- Personal well-being, characterized by self-accep- Mental health chotherapy is divided on false memory syndrome. To question the interpretation of and belief in recovered memories undermines the possibility of the existence of repression, according to some psychotherapists; others tance and feelings of emotional security. see the challenge to recovered memories as coming from After decades of concentrating on mental illness a refusal by society to confront a serious problem with and emotional disorders, many psychologists during the child abuse and abuse of women. Yet others contend 1950s turned their focus toward the promotion of mental there are no psychoanalytic theories to support forgetting health. Attempts to prevent mental illness joined the em- traumatic events or support their detailed recall after the phasis on treatment methods, and promotion of “self- passage of time. help” in many cases replaced the dependence on profes- See also Mnemonic strategies; Serial learning; Seri- sionals and drug therapies. American psychologist Gor- al position function don Allport (1897-1967) viewed the difference between an emotionally healthy person and a neurotic one as the Further Reading difference in outlook between the past and the future. Bartlett, Frederic C. Remembering: A Study in Experimental Healthy people motivate themselves toward the future; and Social Psychology New York: Cambridge University unhealthy ones dwell on events in the past that have Press,1995. caused their current condition. Allport also considered Damasio, Antonio. Descartes’Error: Emotion, Reason, and these qualities characteristic of mentally healthy individ- the Human Brain.. New York: G.P. Putnam, 1994. uals: capacity for self-extension; capacity for warm Loftus, Elizabeth F. and Ketcham, Katherine. The Myth of Re- pressed Memory: False Memories and Allegations of Sex- human interactions; demonstrated emotional security ual Abuse. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1994. and self-acceptance; realistic perceptions of one’s own Rubin, David C. Remembering Our Past: Studies in Autobio- talents and abilities; sense of humor, and a unifying phi- graphical Memory. Cambridge University Press, 1996. losophy of life such as religion. Schacter, Daniel L. Searching for Memory: The Brain, the In the United States, the Community Mental Health Mind, and the Past. New York: Basic Books, 1996. Centers Act of 1963 attempted to localize and individual- ize the promotion of personal well-being. Community mental health centers were established for outpatient treat- ment, emergency service, and short-term hospitalizations. Mental age Professional therapists and paraprofessionals consulted with schools, courts, and other local agencies to devise A scale used to correlate intelligence to the typical and maintain prevention programs, particularly for young changes that occur as a child matures. people. Halfway houses enabled formerly ill patients to make an easier transition back to everyday life. Youth cen- French psychologist and educator Alfred Binet the- ters provided an available source of counseling for jobs orized that a child who appears to have limited mental and personal problems. Hot lines became staffed 24 hours abilities is able to perform on a level characteristic of a day in attempts to prevent suicide and child abuse. younger children; conversely, a child who appears to be Aided in large part by these community mental health gifted is able to perform on the level of older children. In centers, mental health professionals have strived to reduce 1905 Binet, in collaboration with Thèophile Simon, de- the severity of existing disorders through the use of tradi- veloped a scale on which mental age could be compared tional therapies, the duration of disorders that do occur, to the chronological age. Thus, a bright child’s mental and the incidence of new mental illness cases. In addition, age is higher than his or her chronological age. attempts have been to decrease the stigma attached to In 1916, Lewis Terman,a psychologist at Stanford mental illness by making mental health services more University, devised an intelligence test based on Binet’s commonly available. Self-help strategies have also played work (referred to today as the Stanford-Binet Intelli- an important role in the mental health arena. People with gence Scale) and was administered to assess American particular anxieties are encouraged to reduce them school children. Terman maintained the concept of men- through training. For example, people afraid to speak in tal age in devising his formula for calculating the intelli- public are encouraged to take classes to help them cope gence quotient (IQ). The formula is IQ = mental with their anxiety and overcome it so that it does not inter- age/chronological age multiplied by 100. Thus if the fere with their personal or professional lives. The prolifer- child’s mental age equals her chronological age, her IQ ation of self-help support groups are also outgrowths of will equal 100. the efforts to personalize, rather than institutionalize, men- 418 GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION

tal health care. People who participate in such groups not only learn to cope with the stresses that erode their well- being, they also receive the social support thought to be Mental illness equally important in building strong mental health. Further Reading Hergenhahn, B.R. An Introduction to Theories of Personality. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1980. Zimbardo, Philip G. Psychology and Life. Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman, 1988. Mental hospitals Many mental hospitals are modernizing their treatment methods, including this one with patients participating in Institutions for the mentally ill, formerly called asy- dance therapy. (Photo Researchers, Inc. Reproduced with lums, and now called psychiatric institutions. permission.) Beginning in the Middle Ages, mental hospitals were basically prisons. By the end of the eighteenth cen- Overview tury, the term asylum was used, and some reforms were Mental illness is a serious public health problem. being implemented when the notion was introduced that According to the World Health Organization and the psychological disturbances, like physical ailments, could Harvard School of Public Health, mental illness accounts be viewed as diseases requiring treatment rather than for nearly 11 percent of total worldwide disease burden. crimes calling for imprisonment. By the late 1800s, reac- (Disease burden is determined by the calculation of tions against conditions in mental hospitals led to a re- DALYs, or disability-adjusted life years. The DALY sta- form movement in the care and treatment of people with tistic measures lost years of healthy life from death or mental disorders. The Mental Health Act of 1946 and the disability due to a disease.) In countries that are consid- Community Mental Health Centers Act of 1963 allotted ered “established market economies” (i.e., United States, federal funds for the establishment of community treat- Great Britain), mental illness is second only to heart dis- ment centers, which provide a variety of services—in- ease as the most disabling disease category. Unipolar cluding short-term and partial hospitalization—in an ef- major depression was determined to be the second lead- fort toward the deinstitutionalization of mental patients. ing source of disease burden (after ischemic heart dis- As of the late 1990s, institutions for the treatment of ease) in established market economies, and the fourth mental disorders are called psychiatric institutions. leading cause of disease burden worldwide. These institutions—along with mental health centers and halfway houses—form a system for treatment of mental In its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental disorders at all levels of severity. Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV), a reference stan- dard for mental health professionals, the American Further Reading Psychiatric Association distinguishes 16 different sub- Wyer, Robert S., Jr., ed. Knowledge and Memory: The Real types (or categories) of mental illness. These include: Story. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1995. Hartmann, Ernest. Boundaries in the Mind: A New Psychology • Disorders usually first diagnosed in infancy childhood, of Personality Difference. New York: Basic Books, 1991. or adolescence. These include learning and develop- See also Institutionalization mental disorders, mental retardation, and attention- deficit hyperactivity disorder. • Delirium, dementia, amnestia, and other cognitive dis- orders. These include dementia related to Alzheimer’s Mental illness disease, head injury, and central nervous system in- The term used to describe a disorder or condition fection; and substance-induced delirium. that negatively affect cognition (thought), behavior, and/or affect (mood) to such a point where it caus- • Mental disorders due to a general medical condition. es a significant amount of distress and functional Medical/mental conditions that are not classified in impairment for a prolonged period of time. other areas of the DSM-IV are found in this category. GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION 419

Causes and symptoms Mental illness • Substance-related disorders. Disorders related to alco- derstood, but organic, genetic (hereditary), familial, hol and drug use, abuse, dependence, and withdrawal The causes of mental illness are not completely un- are included in this category. • Schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders. These in- traumatic life events, and social factors all may play a clude the schizoid disorders (schizophrenia, schizo- phreniform, and schizoaffective disorder), delusional part in triggering mental illness. Frequently, it is a com- bination and interrelationship of several of these fac- disorder, and psychotic disorders. tors. For example, schizophrenia is caused by geneti- • Mood disorders. Depressive disorders (major, dys- cally determined abnormalities in the structure and thymic) and bipolar disorders are classified as mood chemistry of the brain,but the course and severity of disorders. the disease can be influenced by social factors such as • Anxiety disorders. This classification includes panic environmental stress and the absence of a family or disorder, agoraphobia, social phobia, obsessive-com- peer support system. pulsive disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, and In some cases, mental illness is primarily a byprod- generalized anxiety disorders, all disorders in which a uct of a disease or general medical condition. For exam- certain situation or place triggers excessive fear and/or ple, central nervous system infections that can occur in panic symptoms (i.e., dizziness, racing heart). advanced AIDS can cause dementia. Depending on their • Somatoform disorders. Somatoform disorders involve location and severity, neurological conditions such as clinically significant physical symptoms that cannot be traumatic brain injury, tumor, or infarct (areas of tissue explained by a medical condition. Somatization disor- death as a result of loss of blood supply) can also cause der, conversion disorder, pain disorder, hypochondria- various symptoms of mental illness. sis, and body dysmorphic disorder. Individuals dealing with traumatic life events • Factitious disorders. These are disorders in which the (e.g., death of a close friend, experiencing a natural dis- individual creates and complains of symptoms of a aster, witnessing a brutal crime) may experience psy- non-existent illness in order to assume the role of a pa- chological distress and difficulty dealing with day-to- tient (or sick role). day tasks. Because these mental health problems tend • Dissociative disorders. These disorders involve a to be of a temporary nature, they aren’t termed mental change in memory, identity, and/or consciousness. illness. It is important to remember that prompt and They include dissociative amnesia, dissociative fugue, proper treatment of these issues in the form of counsel- dissociative identity disorder, and depersonalization ing or other psychological interventions is critical, as disorder. they have the potential to progress into a long-term • Sexual and gender identity disorders. Disorders of sex- mental disorder or illness. ual desire, arousal, performance, and pain are included here, as is gender identity disorder. It should be noted that the inclusion of gender identity disorder as a Diagnosis and treatment mental illness in the DSM-IV has been a point of some Patients with symptoms of mental illness should un- contention among mental health professionals. dergo a thorough physical examination and patient histo- • Eating disorders.Anorexia and bulimia are both eating ry to rule out an organic or structural cause for the ill- disorders. ness. If a neurological cause for the disorder is suspect- • Sleep disorders. Insomnia, narcolepsy,hypersomnia, ed, further diagnostic tests (e.g., CT scan, MRI, PET and parasomnias (nightmares and sleepwalking) are scan, neuropsychological assessments) are typically re- all considered sleep disorders. quired. If a disorder with no organic cause is suspected, a • Impulse-control disorders not elsewhere classified. In- psychologist or other mental healthcare professional will cludes kleptomania and pyromania. conduct a patient interview and administer one or more • Adjustment disorders.Adjustment disorders involve psychological assessments (also called clinical invento- an excessive emotional or behavioral reaction to a ries, scales, or tests). stressful event. Counseling is typically a front-line treatment for • Personality disorders. These are maladjustments of mental illness. A number of counseling or talk therapy personality, including paranoid, schizoid, schizotypal, approaches exist, including psychotherapy, cognitive antisocial, borderline, histrionic, narcissistic, avoidant, therapy, behavioral therapy, and group therapy. These dependent, and obsessive-compulsive personality dis- are sometimes used in conjunction with alternative thera- order (not to be confused with the anxiety disorder py approaches such as art or music therapy that use the OCD). creative process to promote patient self-discovery and 420 GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION

awareness. A number of mental healthcare professionals are involved in the treatment of mental illness, including Mental imagery licensed counselors and therapists, social workers, nurs- A picture created by the imagination with no visual es, psychologists, and psychiatrists. Mental retardation stimulus required. Psychoactive medication is prescribed for symptom relief in patients with organic and non-organic mental ill- Mental images are created by the brain from mem- ness. For mental illnesses that are considered biological ories, imagination, or a combination of both. In the in nature, such as bipolar disorder or schizophrenia, 1990s, scientists were gaining knowledge of how the pharmaceutical therapy is considered a primary treat- brain forms these visual pictures without input from the ment approach. In other cases, such as in personality dis- eyes. According to researchers at Harvard University, the order or dissociative disorder, psychoactive medications brain may generate these mental pictures in the area of are usually considered a secondary, or companion treat- the brain responsible for vision. Stephen Kosslyn, a psy- ment to psychotherapy. chologist, used positron emission tomography (PET) technology to examine the flow of blood in the brains of Many individuals suffering from mental illness twelve men. The men were asked to close their eyes and choose to treat their illness through regular attendance in imagine total darkness. Subsequently, they were asked to self-help groups, where they can seek advice and coun- imagine a series of different items. The tests seem to in- sel from others in similar circumstances. Some of the dicate that the primary visual cortex, the area of the brain most popular self-help organizations (i.e., Alcoholics that interprets vision, was activated when creating the Anonymous), are as, if not more, effective than tradition- imagined images. al doctor/patient therapy for many individuals. See also Daydreaming; Dreams; Fantasy In some cases, effectively treating mental illness re- quires hospitalization of the patient. This hospitalization, also known as inpatient treatment, is usually employed Paula Ford-Martin in situations where a controlled therapeutic environment is critical for the patient’s recovery (e.g., rehabilitation Further Reading treatment for alcoholism or other drug addictions), or Bower, Bruce. “Brain Scans Set Sights on Mind’s Eye.” Sci- when there is a risk that the patient may harm himself ence News (December 2, 1995): 372. (suicide) or others. One popular variation of the inpatient treatment program, known as milieu therapy, focuses on providing the patient with opportunities to gain self-con- fidence and interact with peers in a positive way. Activi- ties that encourage self-discovery and empowerment Mental retardation such as art, music, dance, and writing are important components of this approach. Below-average intellectual abilities that are present before the age of 18 and interfere with develop- Further Reading mental processes and with the ability to function American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical normally in daily life (adaptive behavior). Manual of Mental Disorders 4th ed. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press, Inc., 1994. The term mental retardation is commonly used to World Health Organization, World Bank, and Harvard Univer- refer to people with an intelligence quotient (IQ) below sity. Murray CL, Lopez AD, eds. The Global Burden of 70. An IQ of 80-130 is considered the normal range, and Disease: A comprehensive assessment of mortality and 100 is considered average. According to the definition in disability from diseases, injuries, and risk factors in 1990 the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and and projected to 2020. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univer- Statistical Manual (DSM-IV), a mentally retarded per- sity Press, 1996. son is significantly limited in at least two of the follow- Satcher, David. Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon Gen- ing areas: self-care, communication, home living, so- eral. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1999. cial/interpersonal skills, self-direction, use of community [available online at www.surgeongeneral.gov] resources, functional academic skills, work, leisure, health, and safety. Mental retardation affects roughly 1% Further Information of the American population. According to the U.S. De- National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). 6001 Executive Boulevard, Rm. 8184, MSC 9663, Bethesda, MD, USA. partment of Education, about 11% of school-aged chil- 20892-9663, fax: 301-443-4279, 301-443-4513. Email: dren were enrolled in special education programs for [email protected]. http://www.nimh.nih.gov. students with mental retardation. GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION 421

There are four categories of mental retardation: Causes of mental retardation Mental retardation mild, moderate, severe, and profound. The roughly 80% tion, both biological and environmental. In about 5% of There are many different causes of mental retarda- of retarded persons who are classified as mildly retarded have an IQ between 50 or 55 and 70. Mild retardation, cases, retardation is transmitted genetically, usually which may not be detected in early childhood, usually through chromosomal abnormalities, such as Down syn- involves little sensorimotor impairment. Persons in this category can be educated up to a sixth-grade level. With when there is an extra chromosome in the 21st pair of adequate vocational guidance, they can live and work drome or fragile X syndrome. Down syndrome occurs chromosomes (known as trisomy 21). People with Down productively in the community as adults, either indepen- syndrome have 47 chromosomes instead of the normal dently or with some degree of supervision. 46. The disorder occurs in one out of every 600-700 About 10% of retarded persons are classified as births worldwide. Women over 35 are at greater risk of moderately retarded, with IQs generally between 35 and bearing a child with Down syndrome than younger 50. Although they usually do not progress beyond the women, and Down syndrome births are over 20 times second-grade level academically, as adults they can take more likely in women over 45 than in those under the age care of themselves within supervised settings and per- of 30. Children and adults with Down syndrome demon- form unskilled or semiskilled work. strate both mental and motor retardation. Most are se- verely retarded, with IQs between 20 and 49, and prone Persons with severe retardation, who account for 3- to a number of physical problems, including poor vision, 4% of the retarded population, have serious language hearing and heart defects, and low resistance to respira- and motor impairment. They usually do not speak in tory infections. Individuals with Down syndrome (for- early childhood but can learn communication and basic merly called mongoloidism) also have distinctive physi- self-care during the school years. Their language skills cal features, including upward-slanting, almond-shaped may be limited to the most basic functional words nec- eyes and a short, stocky build with a short neck and a essary to meet their daily needs. As adults, they live ei- smaller than average skull, which is usually flat in back. ther with their families, in group homes, or, when neces- sary, in facilities that can provide skilled medical or Besides Down syndrome, the chromosomal condi- nursing care. tion that most commonly causes mental retardation is Profound retardation, which accounts for 1-2% of fragile X syndrome, in which a segment of the chromo- the retarded population, is usually associated with a neu- some that determines gender is abnormal. Fragile X syn- rological condition. It is characterized by severe sensori- drome primarily affects males, in whom the incidence of motor difficulties beginning in early childhood and seri- the condition is 1 in 1,000, as opposed to 1 in 2,500 for ous long-term limitations on both communication and females. Males with fragile X syndrome tend to have the ability to care for oneself. Some profoundly retarded long, thin faces with prominent ears and jaws, and they individuals are never able to speak or to be toilet trained. often have characteristics of autism. Some researchers Most need constant care throughout their lives. suspect that as many as 15% of people diagnosed with autism actually have fragile X syndrome. About 20% of In addition to the categories of mild, moderate, se- genetically caused mental retardation results from single vere, and profound retardation, separate categories are gene mutations, including Tay-Sachs disease, phenylke- sometimes used to designate those retarded persons tonuria (PKU), and metachromatic leukodystrophy. who can benefit from some degree of academic train- ing. Those designated “educable mentally retarded” Mental retardation may be caused by problems that (EMR) can handle academic work at a third- to sixth- occur during pregnancy and birth, including maternal grade level, and usually have IQs that fall between 50 nutritional deficiencies, toxemia, infections such as and 75. The “trainable mentally retarded” (TMR) have rubella, maternal phenylketonuria (even if the fetus does- IQs of between 30 and 50 and can progress as far as n’t have the condition), use of drugs or alcohol, maternal second-grade level work. It is important to note that IQ injury during pregnancy, extreme prematurity, low birth scores are not foolproof ways of detecting the abilities weight, perinatal injury, or lack of oxygen at birth. Re- and potential of mentally retarded children. Some chil- tardation can also be the result of medical conditions and dren with lower IQs ultimately prove to be more capa- injuries that occur after birth, including metabolic disor- ble of leading independent, productive lives than others ders, severe childhood malnutrition, prolonged high who score higher. Factors such as emotional support, fever, near drowning, lead poisoning, severe mental dis- medical attention, and vocational training can play as orders such as autism, and infections such as meningitis great a role as IQ in determining the future of a retard- that affect the brain. Environmental factors influencing ed child. mental retardation include deprivation of physical or 422 GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION

emotional nurturance and stimulation. Altogether, there fected children by the age of three months, and in 50% are hundreds of possible causes of, or factors contribut- by the age of six months. Phenylketonuria (PKU) pre- ing to, mental retardation. vents an infant from metabolizing the amino acid phenyalanine. Reducing the amount of this substance in Mental retardation Mentally retarded people are more prone to both an infant’s diet can prevent retardation. Infants with physical and mental disorders than the general popula- galactosemia lack the enzyme needed to convert the tion. Some of the conditions that cause mental retarda- sugar galactose to glucose. Avoiding milk and certain tion may also be characterized by seizures, hearing prob- other dairy products prevents galactose from accumulat- lems, congenital heart defects, and other symptoms. ing in the blood and eventually interfering with the Mental disorders are much more common among the child’s normal mental development. However, none of mentally retarded than among the general population: an the preceding measures can be taken if the conditions in- estimated one million Americans have some degree of volved are not detected, and most are undetectable with- mental retardation as well as a mental disorder of some out screening. kind. The most severely retarded appear to be most at risk for mental disorders, and the more severe the retar- The symptoms of mental retardation are usually evi- dation the more serious the disorder. Diagnosis and treat- dent by a child’s first or second year. In the case of Down ment of these disorders can be especially difficult due to syndrome, which involves distinctive physical character- communication problems. In addition, mental illness in istics, a diagnosis can usually be made shortly after birth. the retarded may also be caused by the stresses, frustra- Mentally retarded children lag behind their peers in de- tions, and loneliness they encounter in daily life. De- velopmental milestones such as sitting up, smiling, walk- pression, for example, is a common disorder of the men- ing, and talking. They often demonstrate lower than nor- tally retarded, and one that often goes undiagnosed. In mal levels of interest in their environment and respon- spite of their limited intellectual capabilities, retarded siveness to others, and they are slower than other children children realize that they are different and that other peo- in reacting to visual or auditory stimulation. By the time a ple are often uncomfortable around them. Professional child reaches the age of two or three, retardation can be counseling, along with parental love and attention, can determined using physical and psychological tests. Test- help a retarded child maintain a positive self-image, ing is important at this age if a child shows signs of possi- which is crucial to the ability to function effectively with ble retardation because alternate causes, such as impaired family, peers, and in the larger community. hearing, may be found and treated. There is no cure for mental retardation once it has occurred. Treatment programs are geared toward helping Preventive measures retarded children reach their own full potential, not to- Some types of mental retardation can be prevented ward helping them catch up with their peers who aren’t through genetic counseling to determine the risk of a cou- retarded. Nevertheless, this type of habilitative interven- ple having a retarded baby. Other prenatal preventative tion can prepare most retarded people to lead fulfilling measures include ensuring that a pregnant mother has ad- and productive lives as active members of their communi- equate nutrition and immunization against infectious dis- ties. All states are required by law to offer early interven- eases; monitoring to screen for fetal abnormalities that tion programs for mentally retarded children from the are associated with mental retardation; and reduced use time they are born. The sooner the diagnosis of mental re- of drugs and alcohol by women during pregnancy. Fol- tardation is made, the more the child can be helped. With lowing the birth of a child, the chances of retardation can mentally retarded infants, the treatment emphasis is on be reduced by maintaining good nutrition for both the sensorimotor development, which can be stimulated by nursing mother and the young child; avoiding environ- exercises and special types of play. It is required that spe- mental hazards such as lead; and providing the child with cial education programs be available for retarded children emotional, intellectual, and social stimulation. starting at three years of age. These programs concentrate on essential self-care, such as feeding, dressing, and toilet Another important preventative measure is early de- training. There is also specialized help available for lan- tection of certain metabolic and nutritional conditions guage and communication difficulties and physical dis- that result in mental retardation following a period of de- abilities. As children grow older, training in daily living generation. Screening for certain disorders is mandatory skills, as well as academic subjects, is offered. in most states. Hypothyroidism, which affects 1 in 4,000 infants born in the United States, can be prevented if a Counseling and therapy are another important type of thyroid hormone is administered by the first month of an treatment for the mentally retarded. Retarded children as a infant’s life. However, if the condition goes untreated, it group are prone to behavioral problems caused by short will cause impaired mental development in 20% of af- attention spans, low tolerance for frustration, and poor im- GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION 423

Merrill-Palmer scales of mental tests pulse control. Behavior therapy with a mental health variety of materials including pegboards, formboards, cubes, Kohs design blocks, buttons, scissors, sticks, and professional can help combat negative behavior patterns and replace them with more functional ones. A counselor strings. The following comprise about half of the Mer- rill-Palmer scales: the Color Matching Test; Buttoning or therapist can also help retarded children cope with the Test; Stick and String, and Scissors tests; Language Test; low self-esteem that often results from the realization that they are different from other children, including siblings. Picture Formboards 1, 2, and 3; Nested Cubes; Copying Counseling can also be valuable for the family of a retard- Test; Pyramid Test; and Little Pink Tower Test. The re- maining Merrill-Palmer subtests are the Wallin Peg- ed child to help parents cope with painful feelings about the child’s condition, and with the extra time and patience boards A and B; Mare-Foal Formboard; Seguin-Goddard Formboard; Pintner-Manikin Test; Decroly Matching needed for the care and education of a special-needs child. Siblings may need to talk about the pressures they face, such as accepting the extra time and attention their parents Block Design Test. Resistance to the testing situation is must devote to a retarded brother or sister. Sometimes par- taken into account in scoring. The test is accompanied by a detailed list of factors that can influence a child’s will- ents have trouble bonding with an infant who is retarded Game; Woodworth-Wells Association Test; and the Kohs and need professional help and reassurance to establish a ingness to cooperate, and refused or omitted items are close and loving relationship. considered when arriving at the total score, which may then be converted and reported in a variety of ways, in- Current social and health care policies encourage cluding mental age and percentile ranking. keeping mentally retarded persons in their own homes or in informal group home settings rather than institutions. Further Reading The variety of social and mental health services available Cohen, Libby G., and Loraine J. Spenciner. Assessment of to the mentally retarded, including pre-vocational and vo- Young Children. New York: Longman, 1994. cational training, are geared toward making this possible. McCullough, Virginia. Testing and Your Child: What You Should Know About 150 of the Most Common Medical, Education- Further Reading al, and Psychological Tests. New York: Plume, 1992. Beirne-Smith, Mary, et al., eds. Mental Retardation. New York: Wortham, Sue Clark. Tests and Measurement in Early Child- Merrill, 1994. hood Education. Columbus: Merrill Publishing Co., 1990. Drew, Clifford J. Retardation: A Life Cycle Approach. Colum- bus: Merrill, 1988. Grossman, Herbert J., et al, eds. AMA Handbook on Mental Re- tardation. Chicago: American Medical Association, 1987. Matson, Johnny L., and James A. Mulick, eds. Handbook of Mental Retardation. New York: Pergamon Press, 1991. Franz Anton Mesmer Further Information 1734-1815 German physician whose theories and practices American Association on Mental Deficiency (AAMD). 1719 led to modern-day hypnotism. Kalorama Rd. NW, Washington, DC 20009, (202) 387–1968. Association for Retarded Citizens (ARC). P.O. Box 6109, Ar- The word “mesmerize” means to hold one’s atten- lington, TX 76005, (817) 640-0204. tion as though that person were in a trance. Such was the National Down Syndrome Congress. 1800 Dempster, Park popularity of Franz Mesmer, whose unorthodox methods Ridge, IL 60068–1146, (708) 823–7550. of treating illness were highly popular with his patients. Those methods were criticized and ultimately dismissed by his contemporaries, and he lived out his days in ob- scurity. Yet his initial fame was the result of his success- Merrill-Palmer scales of es with patients. Mesmer did not know the concept of psychosomatic illness, but he did recognize the role the mental tests mind played in disease. His practices evolved into hyp- Intelligence test. nosis,which today is recognized by many as a valid and highly effective means of treating certain conditions. The Merrill-Palmer scales of mental tests are intelli- The son of a forester, Mesmer was born on May 23, gence test for children aged 18 months to four years, 1734, in Iznang, in the German province of Swabia. He which can be used to supplement or substitute for the did not begin college until he was 25, and when he first Stanford-Binet test. Its 19 subtests cover language skills, enrolled at the University of Vienna he planned to study motor skills, manual dexterity, and matching ability. law. He soon changed his mind and instead worked to- They require both oral responses and tasks involving a ward a medical degree, which he received in 1766. It was 424 GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION

in his doctoral dissertation that he described his theory of “animal gravitation,” in which health in humans is af- fected by the gravitational pull of the various planets. Mesmer also believed that there was a specific though Franz Anton Mesmer unidentifiable fluid-like substance occurring in nature that channeled this gravity. Begins “animal magnetism” studies Mesmer concluded that people did not need to rely on planetary gravitational pull; rather, they could manipu- late their health through the use of any magnetic force. Today, some advocates of alternative medicine make use of magnets, which, worn or passed over the body, are said to restore balance or harmony and thus thwart disease. Most scientists consider this to be nothing more than quackery, and eighteenth-century Austrians were equally skeptical. Nonetheless, Mesmer attracted a considerable following and his practice became quite lucrative. By 1775, Mesmer had revised his animal gravitation theory, renaming it “animal magnetism.” He believed that magnets were not necessary after all; the passing of hands over the body were enough to create the necessary magnetic forces. Other physicians were especially harsh toward Mes- Franz A. Mesmer (Corbis-Bettmann. Reproduced with mer and his practices, and they actually tried to bring permission.) him up on charges of fraud. In addition, while there were patients who had been “cured” by Mesmer, there were dropped off quickly after that pronouncement, and he left many who had not been, and with the encouragement of Paris in 1785. He stayed briefly in Versailles, then went to the established medical profession they began to threaten Switzerland, and finally returned to his native Germany. legal action. Mesmer finally left Vienna in 1778, settling in Paris. There he found many French patients who were It is interesting to note that although other scientists willing to engage in “Mesmerism.” In addition to the and physicians found fault with Mesmer’s methods and magnetic forces, Mesmer also developed techniques to theories, they did not discount the idea of mind-over put people in trancelike states he called “crises.” Mesmer matter treatment of illness. Franklin, in particular, be- believed that these crises, whose side effects included lieved that some diseases were more in the mind than in convulsion, actually acted as a means of forcing the body the body; he acknowledged that in those cases the power fluid back to its proper flow. of suggestion could be enough to “cure” the disease. Also, Mesmer truly believed in his treatment, and his earnestness was no doubt the reason it took so much to Methods challenged in France discredit him. A common quack would have been dis- covered years earlier. Mesmer remained popular in France for several years, but the medical establishment there was no more Mesmer spent his remaining years quietly. He died welcoming than the Austrian doctors had been. The con- in Meersburg, Germany on March 5, 1815. troversy eventually reached King Louis XVI, who in 1784 appointed a group of scientists to examine Mes- George A. Milite mer’s methods and present their conclusions. The com- mission included some of the leading scientific minds of Further Reading the day, including Antoine Lavoisier and Dr. Joseph Guil- Asimov, Isaac. Asimov’s Biographical Encyclopedia of Science lotin. Also on the commission was an American, Ben- and Technology.. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Compa- jamin Franklin. The commission, perhaps not surprising- ny, 1982. ly, concluded that Mesmer’s techniques could not be Daintith, John, et al. Biographical Encyclopedia of Scientists. backed up with scientific evidence. Mesmer’s following Philadelphia: Institute of Physics Publishing, 1994. GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION 425

Metapsychology Mackay, Charles. Extraordinary popular delusions and the madness of crowds. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1932. Metapsychology Umbrella term used to describe the attempt to es- tablish general principles to explain all psychologi- cal phenomena. Metapsychology describes the effort to construct or to postulate a systematic and comprehensive set of gen- eral principles encompassing all of psychology, specifi- cally including elements that are theoretical in addition to elements that are considered to have been empirically demonstrated; also known as nomothetic psychology. In classical Freudian psychoanalytical theory, the term metapsychology is used in reference to the analysis of the dynamic (instinctive), topological (association with id, ego, or superego), and economic (allocation of psy- chic energy) aspects of mental processes. The term metapsychology is sometimes used as a synonym of the term parapsychology. Parapsychology is a field of study that involves the investigation of paranormal phenome- Adolf Meyer (AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced with na, such as extrasensory perception, precognition, permission.) telepathy, clairvoyance, and telekinesis, that are (pre- sumably) not explainable in terms of scientifically estab- lished principles or natural laws. In following year Meyer was appointed professor of psy- chiatry at Johns Hopkins University and director of its Henry Phipps Psychiatric Clinic, which became an inter- nationally renowned training center for psychiatrists. Adolf Meyer Meyer became so influential in his adopted country that he was known as “the dean of American psychiatry,” 1866-1950 and his work has had a wide influence on psychiatric Swiss-born American psychiatrist who developed theory and practice. In Meyer’s view, the diagnosis and the concept of psychobiology. treatment of a mental disorder must include a thorough understanding of the patient as a whole person. This ap- Adolph Meyer was born in Niederweningen, Switzer- proach, which would today be termed “holistic,” in- land, and received an extensive medical education in neu- volved studying the patient from various perspectives— rology in Zurich, obtaining his M.D. in 1892. He emigrat- medical, biographical, educational, and even artistic. It ed to the United States in the same year. Beginning in was this goal that led him to introduce the use of the in- 1893, Meyer worked for several hospitals, including a dividual case history, bringing together in one place in- state hospital in Kankakee, Illinois, as a pathologist, and formation about a patient’s physical condition, past his- the New York State Hospital Service Pathological Insti- tory, family life, work situation, and other facts that tute, where he was involved with the training of psychia- could be relevant to treatment. Meyer also pioneered in trists. Meyer later joined the faculty of Cornell Medical promoting visits to the patient’s family in order for the College in New York City, where he served as professor of psychiatrist to understand the environment in which the psychiatry. In 1909 G. Stanley Hall (1844-1924), a promi- patient lived, and to which he or she would return when nent psychologist and former student of William James, treatment was completed. invited Meyer to Clark College in Worcester, Massachu- setts, on the occasion of the college’s twentieth anniver- Meyer believed that the constituent elements of sary, where he met with Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. human existence are actively interrelated, from the lowest 426 GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION

biochemical level to the highest cognitive level. Arguing dle years as a time for self-realization and the explo- that psychological factors may be as important as neu- ration of spiritual and social values once the practical ropathology in causing mental illness,Meyer advocated tasks of finding an occupation and establishing a family Middle years integrating the studies of human psychology and biology have been accomplished. into a single system that he called psychobiology. The For many people, middle age is a stable period in goal of psychobiological therapy was the successful inte- which they are settled in a long-term love relationship, gration of different aspects of the patient’s personality. have committed themselves to a career, and have estab- Steps involved in this psychotherapy included analyzing lished a family and a permanent home. The middle years the psychological, sociological, and biological factors rel- can also be a time of exploration and radical change, evant to the patient’s illness; working with the patient on sometimes fueled by the much-publicized “midlife cri- a conscious level, staying close to the original complaint; sis.” For some individuals, failure to achieve goals set and utilizing a combination of treatment methods satis- earlier in life or reassessment of those goals may pro- factory to both psychiatrist and patient. duce discontent or even despair, resulting in major Through therapy that addressed both short-term and lifestyle changes, both professional and personal. It is long-term problems, Meyer’s goal was to help the patient important to note that personal and professional growth adjust as well as possible to life and change. Part of the at midlife may also be indicative of an individual’s so- therapy process consisted of aiding the patient in modify- cioeconomic status: the poor generally have less flexibil- ing unhealthy adjustments to his or her situation through ity and fewer opportunities to make sweeping changes in guidance, suggestion, and reeducation, which Meyer their lives at this stage. called “habit training.” His emphasis on habits extended to The ability to realize one’s full potential in middle include schizophrenia, which he viewed as caused by age is also closely related to developmental experiences harmful habits acquired over a long period of time, in earlier in life. Unresolved issues of childhood and ado- combination with biological factors, including heredity. lescence are often felt keenly during this period, and the Neurosis,Meyer believed, differed from psychosis in that greatest number of psychotherapy clients are thought to only a part of the personality was involved. He viewed be of middle aged. In addition, coping with aging par- neurotic patients as suffering from unrealistic expectations ents and their eventual deaths compels middle-aged indi- and the inability to accept themselves as they were. viduals to acknowledge their own mortality, resulting in Meyer, together with Clifford Beers,was also a a restructuring of priorities. Professionally, people may founder of the mental hygiene movement (and the one change careers, return to school, or enter into business who suggested its name). The goal of this movement was for themselves, voluntarily decreasing their earning po- to educate the public about mental illness and achieve tential or accepting a lower measure of financial security more humane treatment of institutionalized patients. in order to pursue their dreams while they still have a Meyer contributed significantly to the medical literature chance. Some women who have stayed home to raise on psychiatry. His papers were collected and published children often reenter the job market at midlife, a chal- in Collected Papers (1950-1952). lenge that can involve major personal reassessments and lifestyle changes. Women in midlife are confronted with the approach- ing end of their childbearing years and begin experienc- ing symptoms of menopause. Men commonly become Middle years concerned about their levels of sexual prowess and activ- While there is no exact consensus as to the age ity in middle age. Affluent, well-educated men are espe- range of this period of life, it generally refers to the cially prone to engaging in extramarital affairs at this ages between approximately 40 and 60, with the time, often with younger women. Both sexes also face lower limit sometimes placed as low as age 35 and the disengagement of their children, first through the de- the upper one as high as 65 years of age. tachment of adolescence, and then when the children fi- nally leave the family home. In Erik Erikson’s influential scheme of human de- velopment, middle age is the period in which an individ- Further Reading ual is presented with the developmental task of choosing Anderson, Clifford. The Stages of Life: A Groundbreaking Dis- between ego stagnation (self-interest) and generativity, covery: the Steps to Psychological Maturity. New York: the capacity to care for others and make a positive con- Atlantic Monthly Press, 1995. tribution to society by being productive in work, parent- Berger, Kathleen Stassen. The Developing Person Through the ing, or other activities. Carl Jung characterized the mid- Life Span. 2nd ed. New York: Worth Publishers, 1988. GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION 427

Milgram’s obedience experiment Inglehart, Marita Rosc. Reactions to Critical Life Events: A _____. “Issues in the Study of Authority: A Reply to Baum- rind,” American Psychologist, 1964. Social Psychological Analysis. New York: Praeger, 1991. Zimbardo, Philip G. The Psychology of Attitude Change and Social Influence. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1991. Stanley Milgram 1933-1984 American experimental social psychologist known for his innovative experimental techniques. Milgram’s obedience experiment Stanley Milgram carried out influential and contro- A controversial experiment on conformity and obe- versial experiments that demonstrated that blind obedi- dience conducted in the early 1960s. ence to authority could override moral conscience. His early studies on conformity were the first experiments to Stanley Milgram (1933-1984), an American exper- compare behavioral differences between people from imental psychologist at Yale University, conducted a se- different parts of the world. Milgram also examined the ries of experiments on conformity and obedience to au- effects of television violence, studied whether New York thority. In these experiments, Milgram recruited sub- City subway riders would give up their seats if asked to jects—ordinary citizens—through newspaper advertise- do so, and made award-winning documentary films. ments offering four dollars for one hour’s participation Milgram, born in 1933 in the Bronx, New York, was in a “study of memory.” When the subject arrived at the the son of Eastern European Jewish immigrants, Samuel experimental laboratory, he or she was assigned the role Milgram, a baker, and Adele Israel. Growing up in the of “teacher,” and asked to read a series of word pairs to Bronx, with an older sister and a younger brother, Mil- another subject, or learner. The teacher-subject then gram attended James Monroe High School and graduat- would test the learner’s ability to recall the pairs by ed from Queens College in 1954. He had a majored in reading back the first word in each pair. Whenever the political science and planned to enter the School of Inter- learner made a mistake, the teacher-subject was instruct- national Affairs at Columbia University to prepare for ed to administer punishment in the form of electric the Foreign Service. Instead, he enrolled in Harvard Uni- shock. This instruction, by an authority figure or em- versity’s new interdisciplinary Department of Social Re- ployer to administer pain to a human being, is at the lations. There, Gordon Allport became his mentor and a heart of the controversy. series of fellowships enabled him to earn his Ph.D. in so- cial psychology in 1960. The teacher-subject watched as the learner was strapped into a chair and an electrode was attached to the At Harvard, Milgram became Solomon E. Asch’s learner’s wrist. The teacher was encouraged by the ex- teaching assistant. Asch was applying Gestalt psycholo- perimenters to continue to administer the shocks. Mil- gy to social relations and designing experiments to ex- gram found that the 65 percent of the teacher-subjects amine conformity. For his doctoral research, Milgram would continue to do what they were told, even though spent a year in Norway and a year in France, exploring the learners could be heard pleading and screaming, and the cultural differences in conformity. He found that concluded that most people will follow the instructions pressure for conformity was greater for Norwegians than of an authority figure as long as they considered the au- for the French. After returning from France, Milgram thority as legitimate. Many psychologists and others worked with Asch at the Institute for Advanced Study in questioned the ethics of conducting such experiments, Princeton, New Jersey. where participants were encouraged, in the name of sci- Moving to Yale University in 1960, as an assistant entific experimentation, to inflict pain on others. Another professor of psychology, Milgram began his experiments aspect of the controversy surrounding Milgram’s work on obedience, with funding from the National Science focused on the implications of his findings for the future Foundation. Much to his surprise, he found that 65% of of societies and their authority figures. his subjects would inflict what they believed to be painful electric shocks on others, simply because they Further Reading were told to do so. Milgram, Stanley. “Behavior Study of Obedience.” Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 1963. Milgram married Alexandra “Sasha” Menkin, a psy- _____. “Some Conditions of Obedience and Disobedience to chiatric social worker, in 1961 and the couple eventually Authority,” Human Relations, 1965. had a daughter and a son. Returning to the Department of 428 GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION

Social Relations at Harvard in 1963 as an assistant pro- The psychology of military organization fessor of social psychology, Milgram used his “lost-letter Military psychologists are intimately involved in technique” to study people’s inclinations to help others testing recruits for intelligence and aptitude for military when it wasn’t required. These experiments examined Military psychology specializations, and helping to find more effective ways whether subjects would re-mail lost letters. Milgram also of training them. A critical subset of such testing focuses addressed the “small-world problem,” determining that on identifying and optimally training officers and other any two individuals in the United States could reach each leaders—a task that many practitioners admit is as much other via an average of five acquaintances. art as science. In 1967, Milgram moved to the Graduate Center of A whole field of study revolves around what mili- the City University of New York as professor and chair- tary psychologists call group cohesion—the difficult-to- man of the social psychology program. In 1970 he pub- quantify spirit of camaraderie, mutual trust, and confi- lished “The Experience of Living in Cities,” which had a dence soldiers have in their unit. Studies have linked major influence on the new field of urban psychology. high group cohesion to soldiers performing better both He also examined how residents of New York and Paris as a team and individually; soldiers in units with good perceived the geographies of their cities. One of Mil- group cohesion are less likely to suffer psychological gram’s most unique social experiments, designed to disability after combat. study the effects of television violence, involved an episode of the CBS program “Medical Center,” with sub- Another military psychology subspecialty identifies jects viewing one of three endings. He found that view- people who might prove emotionally unstable in military ers watching a violent ending were no more likely than life; in the nuclear era, this type of testing is especially others to commit an antisocial act when given the oppor- crucial. In addition, military personnel who are privy to tunity. He also performed experiments with “cyranoids,” classified information are screened for psychological intermediaries who communicated with someone using conditions that might make them a security risk. words from a third person. He found, for example, that One of the most controversial areas in military psy- listeners never suspected that an 11-year-old cyranoid’s chology concerns the integration of nontraditional words were actually those of a 50-year-old professor. In groups into the often-conservative military society. 1980, in the midst of these experiments, Milgram suf- Through World War II and Korea, military psychologists fered the first of a series of massive heart attacks. He helped confirm that African Americans could be integrat- died of his fifth heart attack in New York City in 1984, at ed into white units successfully. Today, military psychol- the age of 51. ogists are trying to find ways to ease the introduction of women into front-line units; some psychologists consid- Margaret Alic er acceptance of gay troops as a future goal. Further Reading The psychology of military life Milgram, Stanley. Obedience to Authority: an Experimental Military life places unique stresses on individuals View. New York: Harper & Row, 1974. and their families. Aside from the possibility of being Milgram, Stanley. The Individual in a Social World: Essays and Experiments. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1977. wounded or killed in combat, military service often in- volves long hours of work, extended absences from home, and frequent transfer across the globe. Some military psychologists research the sources of marital discord among military families; interestingly Military psychology enough, some studies suggest that military life doesn’t destabilize families, but it can bring already unstable The psychological study of military organization, military life, and combat. families to the breaking point. In some respects, clinical military psychology is not very different from civilian family practice, since military psychologists may treat Military psychology, when defined broadly, can in- both soldiers and their civilian spouses and children. clude a vast array of activities in psychological research, assessment, and treatment. Military psychologists may be The military has traditionally taken a harsh stance either soldiers or civilians. The field can encompass every with soldiers who risk their own and their comrades’ aspect of the human mind that interests the military., but lives by abusing alcohol; but the macho culture has often researchers focus on the psychology of military organiza- worked at cross-purpose to that stance. In Vietnam, tion, military life, and the psychology of combat. abuse of other drugs also became far more prevalent GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION 429

Minimal brain dysfunction among American soldiers. While harsh punishments can tional problems among combat veterans in the absence of psychological support that recognizes this problem. still occur, soldiers are now offered treatment for sub- stance abuse as well. The ethics of military psychology The psychology of combat As both therapists with a duty to their patients and subordinates with a duty to the military command struc- Most soldiers never experience combat; but for ture, military psychologists must sometimes carry out a those who do, a lifetime of learning about the rules of so- ciety and morality must be suppressed in the interests of particular problem, since commanders have the right to survival. Military psychologists must help soldiers act examine their subordinates’ medical files when making effectively in combat—and suffer a minimum of emo- tricky ethical balancing act. Patient confidentiality is a tional fallout afterward. decisions in assignments, promotion, and punishment. One facet of the psychology of combat is integrating Military psychologists have been sanctioned by the humans with increasingly sophisticated weapons sys- American Psychological Association for following legal tems. Military psychologists are researching what dis- military orders that violated APA ethical rules; they have play formats can help soldiers make split-second sense also been disciplined by the military for following APA out of complex computer-screen images that carry life- rules that violate military regulations. Both the military or-death importance. Others focus on the effects of harsh and the APA are working to establish clear guidelines to environmental effects such as weather on soldiers’ per- help military psychologists avoid the trap of the “compa- formance. Virtual reality has become an important focus ny doctor.” for more effective combat training. See also Television and aggression Military psychologists also study the emotional as- pects of combat. Early military psychologists suspected Kenneth B. Chiacchia that combat stress reaction (CRS)—a progressive psy- chological breakdown in response to combat—was a Further Reading matter of psychological “weakness.” Today, most agree Cronin, Christopher (ed.) Military Psychology: An Introduc- that any human being will break down if exposed for tion Simon and Schuster, 1998. long enough to enough death, fear, and violence. Grossman, Dave On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learn- ing to Kill in War and Society Little, Brown & Company, Modern treatment for CSR stresses short-term de- 1996. sensitizing therapy and a quick return to combat. While Jeffrey, Timothy B., Robert J. Rankin, and Louise K. Jeffrey this may seem harsh and self-serving on the part of the “In Service of Two Masters: The Ethical-Legal Dilemma military, wartime studies indicate that soldiers with CSR Faced by Military Psychologists.” Professional Psycholo- who are treated in this fashion are less likely to suffer gy: Research and Practice 23(2): 91-95 (1992). from post-traumatic stress disorder than those pulled to Schwartz, T. P., and Robert M. Marsh. “The American Soldier rear-echelon units for treatment. Studies of WWII: A 50th Anniversary Commemorative.” Journal of Political and Military Sociology 27(1): 21-37 Some soldiers who have experienced battle—as well (1999). as some victims of disasters or violent crime—suffer Oei, Tian P. S., Bernard Lim, and Brian Hennessy. “Psycholog- from a lingering version of CSR called post-traumatic ical Dysfunction in Battle: Combat Stress Reactions and stress disorder (PTSD). A person with PTSD may Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.” Clinical Psychology Re- chronically re-experience traumatic events, in night- view 10: 355-388 (1990). mares or even in waking hallucinations. Other PTSD Page, Gary D. “Clinical Psychology in the Military: Develop- sufferers “close up,” refusing to confront their emotional ments and Issues.” Clinical Psychology Review 16(5): trauma but expressing it in substance abuse, depression, 383-396 (1996). or chronic unemployment. PTSD has proved possible but Van Breda, Adrian D. “Developing Resilience to Routine Sep- difficult to treat successfully—hence the military’s focus arations: An Occupational Social Work Intervention.” Families in Society 80(6): 597-605 (1999). on preventing PTSD through proper CSR treatment. One somewhat controversial school of thought holds that the inhibition against killing is so strong that the emo- tional cost of killing—rather than fear of death or loss of comrades—is the most defining aspect of CSR and PTSD. Minimal brain dysfunction Adherents believe that increasingly realistic weapons train- A term often used either in connection (or inter- ing conditions soldiers to kill reflexively—a desired out- changeably) with hyperactivity and/or attention come for the military, but one that can contribute to emo- deficit disorder. 430 GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION

Minimal brain dysfunction was formally defined in noses, unless these are supported by further testing and 1966 by Samuel Clements as a combination of average observable behavior. A sixth-grade reading level is re- or above average intelligence with certain mild to severe quired in order to take the test. However, a tape-recorded learning or behavioral disabilities characterizing deviant version is available for those with limited literacy, visual Salvador Minuchin functioning of the central nervous system. It can in- impairments, or other problems. volve impairments in visual or auditory perception, con- ceptualization, language, and memory, and difficulty Further Reading controlling attention, impulses, and motor function. Aylward, Elizabeth H. Understanding Children’s Testing: Psy- Minimal brain dysfunction is thought to be associated chological Testing. Austin, TX: Pro-Ed, 1991. Blau, Theodore H. The Psychological Examination of the with minor damage to the brain stem, the part of the Child. New York: J. Wiley & Sons, 1991. brain that controls arousal. A likely cause of this type of Knoff, Howard M. The Assessment of Child and Adolescent damage is oxygen deprivation during childbirth. While Personality. New York: Guilford Press, 1986. such damage does not affect intelligence, it does have an McCullough, Virginia. Testing and Your Child: What You Should effect on motor activity and attention span. Minimal Know About 150 of the Most Common Medical, Education- brain disorder usually does not become apparent until a al, and Psychological Tests. New York: Plume, 1992. child reaches school age. O’Neill, Audrey Myerson. Clinical Inference: How to Draw Meaningful Conclusions from Psychological Tests. Bran- Minimal brain dysfunction has also been linked to don, VT: Clinical Psychology Publishing Co., 1993. heredity; poor nutrition; exposure to toxic substances; Walsh, W. Bruce, and Nancy E. Betz. Tests and Assessment. and illness in utero. Other symptoms that may be associ- 2nd ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1990. ated with the disorder include poor or inaccurate body Wodrich, David L., and Sally A. Kush. Children’s Psychologi- image, immaturity, difficulties with coordination, both cal Testing: A Guide for Nonpsychologists. 2nd ed. Balti- hypoactivity and hyperactivity, difficulty with writing or more, MD: Brookes Publishing Co., 1990. calculating, speech and communication problems, and cognitive difficulties. Secondary problems can include social, affective, and personality disturbances. Salvador Minuchin 1921- Argentinian physician, one of the founders of fami- Minnesota Multiphasic ly therapy and of structural family therapy. Personality Inventory The eldest of three children born to the children of Gathers information on personality, attitudes, and Russian-Jewish immigrants, Salvador Minuchin was mental health. born and raised in a closely knit small Jewish communi- ty in rural Argentina. His father had been a prosperous The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory businessman until the Great Depression forced his fami- is a test used to gather information on personality, atti- ly into poverty. In high school he decided he would help tudes, and mental health of persons aged 16 or older juvenile delinquents after hearing his psychology teacher and to aid in clinical diagnosis. It consists of 556 true- discuss the philosopher Rousseau’s ideas that delin- false questions, with different formats available for indi- quents are victims of society. vidual and group use. The MMPI is untimed and can At age 18 he entered the university as a medical stu- take anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours to complete. dent. In 1944, as a student, he became active in the leftist This is normally done in a single session, but can be ex- political movement opposing the dictator Juan Peron tended to a second session if necessary. Specific condi- who had taken control of Argentina’s universities. He tions or syndromes that the test can help identify include was jailed for three months. Upon graduation in 1946 he hypochondriasis, depression,hysteria, paranoia, and began a residency in pediatrics and took a subspecialty schizophrenia. Raw scores based on deviations from in psychiatry. In 1948, as Minuchin was opening a pedi- standard responses are entered on personality profile atric practice, the state of Israel was created and immedi- forms to obtain the individual results. There is also a va- ately plunged into war. He moved to Israel and joined its lidity scale to thwart attempts to “fake” the test. Because army where he treated young Jewish soldiers who had the MMPI is a complex test whose results can sometimes survived the holocaust. be ambiguous (and/or skewed by various factors), pro- fessionals tend to be cautious in interpreting it, often pre- In 1950 he came to the Untied States to study psy- ferring broad descriptions to specific psychiatric diag- chiatry. He worked with psychotic children at Bellevue GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION 431

During the 1960s, Minuchin and his colleagues, as Salvador Minuchin Hospital in New York City as a part-time psychiatric res- well as a number of other groups, struggled to under- ident. Minuchin also worked at the Jewish Board of stand family dynamics. He explored what other family Guardians where he lived in its institutional housing with therapists and colleagues in the social sciences were 20 disturbed children. His training there was psychoana- lytic, which did not seem compatible with his work with doing, and drew on those that seemed to work. He found the children. prised of interdependent parts that mutually effect each In 1951 Minuchin married Patricia Pittluck, a psy- Gregory Bateson’s systems theory (a system is com- other) to go a long way in explaining family dynamics. chologist, and emigrated to Israel. There he co-directed Minuchin also drew on the ideas of Nathan Ackerman, five residential institutions for disturbed children . Most a child analyst who began to look at the interpersonal as- of them were orphans of the holocaust and Jewish chil- pects of the family unit, and the ways individual behav- dren from Asia and the Middle East. Here he first began ior relates to that unit. Minuchin believes these are per- to work therapeutically with groups instead of individu- spectives that are complementary. als. Between 1954 and 1958, Minuchin trained at the William Alanson White Institute of Psychoanalysis in Very basically, structural family therapy uses short- New York City. He went there because the Institute sup- term methods to alter the coalitions and alliances of fam- ported the ideas of Harry Stack Sullivan, who created ily members, and by doing so, alter how they experience interpersonal psychiatry and stressed the importance of one another. Faulty family organization is responsible interpersonal interaction. As he was training there, he for causing family maladjustment. began practicing family therapy at the Wiltwyck School for Boys, a school for troubled young people, or In 1975, Minuchin retired from his position as direc- juvenile delinquents. Slowly, he began to feel that he tor of the Philadelphia Clinic. He was Director Emeritus needed to see a client’s family. He felt that seeing them of the Clinic from 1975 through 1981. In 1981, Minuchin alone, as per psychoanalysis, was not an effective treat- established Family Studies, Inc., in New York City, an or- ment technique. ganization to teach family therapists. Minuchin left the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia in 1983, when Minuchin and a number of other professionals there he joined New York University School of Medicine as a began working as a team to develop approaches to fami- Research Professor. His wife is also a Research Professor ly therapy. These youths and their families tended not be there. He retired in 1996 and currently lives in Boston. very introspective, so Minuchin and his team focused on communication and behavior, and developed a therapy Minuchin has contributed to numerous professional form in which the therapist is very active, making sug- journals and coauthored numerous books, many of gestions and directing activities, for instance. which explore the effects of poverty and socials systems on families. In 1965, Minuchin and his family (he now had two children) moved to Philadelphia, where he became, at the same time, director of psychiatry at Children’s Hos- Marie Doorey pital of Philadelphia, director of the Philadelphia Child Guidance Clinic, and professor of child psychiatry at Further Reading the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Allyn & Bacon Family Therapy Website http://www.abacon. During this time he began working therapeutically with com/famtherapy/ children with psychosomatic illnesses. (Illnesses in Foley, V. “Family Therapy.” In Corsini, R.J., ed. In Encyclope- which no physical basis for an illness can be found so dia of Psychology, 1st Ed., V. 2 New York: John Wiley & the illness is attributed to psychological factors.) Re- Sons, 1984. search with these children and families indicated that family therapy could help these patients improve, and Goleman, Daniel. “Family Therapist Takes on Agencies.” New indicated maladaptive family patterns were partly to York Times, (May 19, 1987). blame for these illnesses. Minuchin, Salvador, and Nichols, Michael . Family Healing: Tales of Hope and Renewal from Family Therapy. New During the 1960s and 1970s, Minuchin became in- York: The Free Press, 1993. terested in the larger social world in which families are Writers Directory 2000, 15th Ed. Detroit, MI: Gale Group, embedded. Thus he and his group started looking at 2000. communities and social service agencies, among other societal agents. In one project he and his colleagues, Further Information under an intensive program, trained minorities from the New York University School of Medicine Department of Psy- community to be family therapists. chiatry. 550 First Avenue, New York, NY, USA. 10016. 432 GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION

Further Reading Mnemonic strategies Higbee, Kenneth. Your Memory: How It Works and How to Im- Modeling prove It. New York: Paragon House, 1993. Any technique used for the purpose of either assist- Maguire, Jack. Your Guide to a Better Memory. New York: ing in the memorizing of specific material or im- Berkley Books, 1995. proving the function of memory in general. Sandstrom, Robert. The Ultimate Memory Book: Remember Anything Quickly and Easily. Granada Hills, CA: Step- The basic coding procedure common to most ping Stone Books, 1990. mnemonic strategies is to mentally associate, in some manner, items of new or unfamiliar information with various interconnected parts of a familiar, known whole. Mnemonic devices range from the very simple to the re- markably complex. An example of a very simple Mode mnemonic device is the use of the acronymic word One of the measures of central tendency in statis- HOMES to remember the names of the Great Lakes tics. (Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior). An ex- ample of a remarkably complex mnemonic device is the In statistics, the mode is a descriptive number that ancient Greek and Roman system of topical mnemonics, indicates the most frequently occurring score or scores in in which a large imaginary house, or even a town full of a group of numbers. Along with the mean and the medi- large imaginary houses, is intricately subdivided into an, the mode constitutes the grouping of descriptive sta- thousands of quadrates, or memory places, each of tistics known as measures of central tendency. Although which is available to be associated with an item of mate- the mode is the easiest of the measures of central tenden- rial to be remembered. The difficulties encountered in cy to determine, it is the least used because it gives only the application of mnemonic strategies appear to in- a crude estimate of typical scores. crease as the amount of information to be mastered in- See also Median; Mean creases, and involve issues such as ambiguity, confusion, and complexity. Further Reading There are several commonly employed mnemonic Peavy, J. Virgil. Descriptive Statistics: Measures of Central devices. For example, the method of loci is a system Tendency and Dispersion. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Dept. of where objects to be remembered are imagined to be Health and Human Services/Public Health Service, Cen- arranged in geographical locations, or locations in a ters for Disease Control, 1981. building, the map or layout of which is well-known. The learner uses this map or layout to remember unordered EXAMPLE items, such as a shopping list, by placing the grocery items on the map, and recalling them later in a well- 124-125-128-129-129-130-130-130-130-131- known order. In this way, no items will be forgotten or 133-133-133 missed. The mode is 130. MNEMONIC DEVICE FOR THE FIVE GREAT LAKES Modeling THIS MNEMONIC DEVICE CAN HELP THE The process of learning by watching others; a ther- LEARNER REMEMBER THE NAMES OF THE FIVE apeutic technique used to effect behavioral U.S. GREAT LAKES. change. H - Huron O - Ontario The use of modeling in psychotherapy was influ- enced by the research of social learning theorist Albert M - Michigan Bandura,who studied observational learning in children, E - Erie particularly in relation to aggression. Bandura pioneered S - Superior the concept of vicarious conditioning, by which one learns not only from the observed behavior of others but GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION 433

Modeling also from whether that behavior is rewarded or punished. maining relaxed, first watches and then imitates them. In therapy involving social skills and assertiveness training, Bandura concluded that certain conditions determine this technique may take the form of behavioral re- whether or not people learn from observed behavior. They must pay attention and retain what they have observed, client practice new, more socially adaptive behaviors. and they must be capable of and motivated to reproduce hearsal, in which the therapist models and then helps the the behavior. The effects of observed behavior are also Beyond phobias, modeling has wide application in stronger if the model has characteristics similar to those of therapy. Therapists use the modeling technique to illus- the observer or is particularly attractive or powerful (the trate healthy behaviors that clients can learn by example principle behind celebrity endorsements). Bandura main- and practice in session. With children, the therapist mod- tained that television offered a major source of modeling, els a variety of responses to difficult situations. In the situ- educating thousands of people to drink certain sodas or ation of dealing with a classroom bully, the therapist mod- use brand name soaps. Likewise, violence and death mod- els alternate responses in the context of a role play, where eled on television influenced behaviors, according to some the therapist acts as the child initially and the child as- social learning who cite the assassination attempt on Pres- sumes the role of the bully. Then roles reverse. The child ident Ronald Reagan. John Hinckley made the attempt practices the behavior and responses modeled while the after watching Taxi Driver 15 times. Four girls testified in therapist portrays the bully. In couples’ therapy, modeling court that they watched Born Innocent before raping a is used to teach listening and communications skills. With California girl with a bottle, similar to a scene in the quarreling couples, the therapist models responses to fa- movie. Other theorists counter that television provides a cilitate resolution rather than spiral the discussion down- release, rather than a modeling for aggressive behavior. In ward into name-calling. Modeling has also been used ef- one study, researchers found that juvenile boys who fectively in anger management and in abuse cases. watched aggressive television shows were less likely to exhibit violence than juvenile boys who did not. Schools offer one of the largest arenas for modeling where teachers first demonstrate the behavior they seek, Critics of modeling as an explanation for violent be- be it classroom decorum or how to work a long division havior maintain that the theory does not allow for differ- problem. Bandura maintains that self-efficacy may be in- ences in genetics, brain functioning and learning differ- fluenced by modeling. A behavior modeled increases the ences. Critics of the Bandura’s findings on aggression student’s belief about what is possible, enhancing the maintain that the methods employed led to the outcome, student’s ability to accomplish the task set forth. including high frustration levels of children because they were not allowed to touch the toys. See also Imitation As a therapeutic technique for changing one’s be- Further Reading havior, modeling has been especially effective in the Bandura, Albert. Self-Efficacy: The Exercise of Control. New treatment of phobias. As with systematic York: W. H. Freeman, 1997. desensitization, an individual is exposed to the feared Decker, Phillip J. and Nathan, Barry R.Behavior Modeling object or situation in progressively anxiety-provoking Training: Principles and Application. New York: Praeger, forms. However, this series of confrontations, instead of 1985. being imagined or experienced directly, is first modeled by another person. In symbolic modeling, the person re- ceiving treatment has also had relaxation training, and his or her task is to watch the series of modeled situa- tions (live or on film) while remaining relaxed. As soon Maria Montessori as a situation or action provokes anxiety, it is discontin- 1870-1952 ued and the observer returns to a state of relaxation. In Innovative Italian educator. another effective technique, “live modeling with partici- pation,” the observer actively imitates the behavior of a Maria Montessori is best known for the progressive live model in a series of confrontations with a feared ob- method of education that bears her name. She earned her ject or situation. For example, persons being treated to medical degree from the University of Rome in 1894, the overcome fear of snakes watch and imitate a model. first Italian woman to do so. A psychiatrist by training, They gradually progress from touching a snake with a Montessorri worked with deprived and retarded children gloved hand to retrieving a loose snake bare-handed and at the Orthophrenic School in Rome starting in 1899. letting it crawl on their bodies. Her observations of the educational challenges facing In individual therapy sessions, the therapist may these children lead to the formulation of her theories of model anxiety-producing behaviors while the client, re- cognitive development and early childhood education. 434 GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION

As she observed the progress of pupils previously con- sidered to be uneducable, Montessori pondered the poor performance of normal children in regular schools. These schools, she concluded, were unable to address Maria Montessori the individual educational needs of children and there- fore stifled, rather than encouraged, learning. She de- scribed children in standard classrooms as butterflies mounted on pins, wings motionless with useless knowl- edge. To see whether her ideas could be adapted to the education of normal children, Montessori opened her own school in 1907, the Casa dei Bambini, for 3-7-year- olds living in the tenements of Rome. Montessori believed that children learn what they are ready to learn, and that there may be considerable differences among children in what phase they might be going through and to what materials they might be re- ceptive at any given time. Therefore, Montessori indi- vidualized her educational method. Children were free to work at their own pace and to choose what they would like to do and where they would like to do it without competition with others. The materials in Montessori’s classrooms reflected her value in self se- lected and pursued activity, training of the senses through the manipulation of physical objects, and indi- vidualized cognitive growth facilitated by items that al- lowed the child to monitor and correct his or her own er- Maria Montessori (The Library of Congress. Reproduced with rors—boards in which pegs of various shapes were to be permission.) fitted into corresponding holes, lacing boards, and sand- paper alphabets so that children could feel the letters as eventually moved to the Netherlands where she died in they worked with them while beginning to read and 1952. Maria Montessori left behind a rich legacy. Her edu- write, for example. While other schools at the beginning cational approach to young and special needs children of the 20th century emphasized rote learning and “toe- quickly became a popular progressive alternative to tradi- ing the line,” self absorption in discovery and mastery tional classrooms. Today Montessori schools are common tasks was the trademark of Montessori classrooms. Still, in many communities, and even traditional approaches to her classrooms combined this seemingly playful self di- education embrace many of Montessori’s ideas. rection with Montessori self discipline and respect for authority. Continued effort and progress was sustained Doreen Arcus Ph.D. by the satisfaction and enjoyment children received from mastering tasks and from engaging in activities they themselves have chosen. Montessori believed that Further Reading these methods would lead to maximal independence for Britton, L. Montessori Play and Learn. New York: Crown, each child from dressing him or herself to organizing 1992. his or her day. Hainstock, E.G. Teaching Montessori in the Home: The Preschool Years. New York: NAL-Dutto, 1976. Interestingly, Montessori’s educational approach Hainstock, E.G. Teaching Montessori in the Home: The School also reflected the Darwinian notion that the development Years. New York: NAL-Dutton, 1989. of each individual is a microcosm of the development of Montessori, M. The Montessori Method. 1939 the entire species, or that “Ontogeny recapitulates phy- Montessori, M. The Secret of Childhood. New York: Ballan- logeny.” She therefore advocated that even young chil- tine, 1982. dren be taught to grow plants and tend animals so that, Montessori, M. Spontaneous Activity in Education. Cam- like their agrarian ancestors, they would ultimately bridge, MA: Robert Bentley, 1964. achieve the highest level of civilization. Further Information In 1922 Montessori became the government inspector American Montessori Society. 150 Fifth Avenue, Suite 203, of schools in Italy. She left Italy in 1934, traveled, and New York, NY 10011, (212) 924–3209. GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION 435

Mood Mood sentially behaviorist approach). Psychoanalytic theory proposes instead that morality develops through humans’ conflict between their instinctual drives and the demands Loosely defined and subjectively experienced gen- eral emotional condition. of society. Cognitive development theories view moral- ity as an outgrowth of cognition, or reasoning, whereas personality theories are holistic in their approach, taking A mood, while relatively pervasive, is typically nei- into account all the factors that contribute to human de- ther highly intense nor sustained over an extended period velopment. of time. Examples of mood include happiness, sadness, contemplativeness, and irritability. The definitions of The differences between these approaches rest on phrases to describe moods—such as good mood and bad two questions: 1) where do humans begin on their moral mood—are imprecise. In addition, the range of what is journey; and 2) where do we end up? In other words, regarded as a normal or appropriate mood varies consid- how moral are infants at birth? And how is “moral ma- erably from individual to individual and from culture to turity” defined? What is the ideal morality to which we culture. aspire? The contrasting philosophies at the heart of the answers to these questions determine the essential per- Further Reading spective of each moral development theory. Those who Kuiken, Don, ed. Mood and Memory. Newbury Park, CA: Sage believe infants are born with no moral sense tend to- Publications, 1991. wards social learning or behaviorist theories (as all See also Affect; Emotion morality must therefore be learned from the external en- vironment). Others who believe humans are innately ag- gressive and completely self-oriented are more likely to accept psychoanalytic theories (where morality is the learned management of socially destructive internal dri- Moral development ves). Those who believe it is our reasoning abilities that The formation of a system of underlying assump- separate us from the rest of creation will find cognitive tions about standards and principles that govern development theories the most attractive, while those moral decisions. who view humans as holistic beings who are born with a full range of potentialities will most likely be drawn to Moral development involves the formation of a sys- personality theories. tem of values on which to base decisions concerning What constitutes “mature morality” is a subject of “right” and “wrong, “ or “good” and “bad.” Values are great controversy. Each society develops its own set of underlying assumptions about standards that govern norms and standards for acceptable behavior, leading moral decisions. many to say that morality is entirely culturally condi- Although morality has been a topic of discussion tioned. Does this mean there are no universal truths, no since the beginning of human civilization, the scientific cross-cultural standards for human behavior? The debate study of moral development did not begin in earnest until over this question fuels the critiques of many moral de- the late 1950s. Lawrence Kohlberg (1927-1987), an velopment theories. Kohlberg’s six stages of moral devel- American psychologist building upon Jean Piaget’s work opment, for example, have been criticized for elevating in cognitive reasoning, posited six stages of moral devel- Western, urban, intellectual (upper class) understandings opment in his 1958 doctoral thesis. Since that time, of morality, while discrediting rural, tribal, working class, morality and moral development have become accept- or Eastern moral understandings. (See Kohlberg’s theory able subjects of scientific research. Prior to Kohlberg’s of moral reasoning. ) Feminists have pointed out potential work, the prevailing positivist view claimed that science sexist elements in moral development theories devised by should be”value-free”—that morality had no place in male researchers using male subjects only (such as scientific studies. By choosing to study moral develop- Kohlberg’s early work). Because women’s experience in ment scientifically, Kohlberg broke through the positivist the world is different from men’s (in every culture), it boundary and established morality as a legitimate sub- would stand to reason that women’s moral development ject of scientific research. might differ from men’s, perhaps in significant ways. There are several approaches to the study of moral Definitions of what is or is not moral are currently development, which are categorized in a variety of ways. in a state of upheaval within individual societies as well Briefly, the social learning theory approach claims that as, at least, in the Western world. Controversies rage humans develop morality by learning the rules of accept- over the morality of warfare (especially nuclear), ecolog- able behavior from their external environment (an es- ical conservation, genetic research and manipulation, al- 436 GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION

ternative fertility and childbearing methods, abortion, sexuality, pornography, drug use, euthanasia, racism, STAGES OF sexism, and human rights issues, among others. Deter- MORAL DEVELOPMENT mining the limits of moral behavior becomes increasing- Moral development ly difficult as human capabilities, choices, and responsi- Childhood is often divided into five approximate bilities proliferate with advances in technology and sci- stages of moral development: entific knowledge. For example, prenatal testing tech- • Stage 1 = infancy—the child’s only sense of right and niques that determine birth defects in utero force parents wrong is what feels good or bad; to make new moral choices about whether to birth a child. Other examples of recently created moral ques- • Stage 2 = toddler years—the child learns “right” and tions abound in modern-day society. “wrong” from what she or he is told by others; Therefore, the study of moral development is lively • Stage 3 = preschool years—the child begins to inter- nalize family values as his or her own, and begins to today. The rise in crime, drug and alcohol abuse, gang vio- perceive the consequences of his or her behavior; lence, teen parenthood, and suicide in recent years in Western society has also caused a rise in concern over • Stage 4 = ages 7-10 years—the child begins to ques- morality and moral development. Parents and teachers tion the infallibility of parents, teachers, and other want to know how to raise moral children, and they turn to adults, and develops a strong sense of “should” and moral development theorists to find the answers. Freudian “should not”; personality theories became more widely known to the • Stage 5 = preteen and teenage years—peers, rather Western public in the 1960s and were understood to imply than adults, become of ultimate importance to the that repression of a child’s natural drives would lead to child, who begins to try on different values systems to neuroses. Many parents and teachers were therefore afraid see which fits best; teens also become more aware of to discipline their children, and permissiveness became and concerned with the larger society, and begin to the rule. Cognitive development theories did little to reason more abstractly about “right” and “wrong.” change things, as they focus on reasoning and disregard behavior. (After a great deal of criticism in this regard, Kohlberg and other cognitive development theorists did begin to include moral actions in their discussions and ed- ification” or “values modification.” The purpose of these ucation programs, but their emphasis is still on reasoning programs is to guide students to establish (or discern) alone.) Behaviorist theories, with their complete denial of their own system of values on which to base their moral free will in moral decision-making, are unattractive to decisions. Students are also taught that others may have many and require such precise, dedicated, behavior mod- different values systems, and that they must be tolerant ification techniques to succeed that few people are able to of those differences. The advantages of this approach are apply them in real-life situations. that it promotes self-investigation and awareness and the development of internal moral motivations (which are The continuing breakdown of society, however, is more reliable than external motivations), and prevents fa- beginning to persuade people that permissiveness is not naticism, authoritarianism, and moral coercion. The dis- the answer and another approach must be found. Schools advantage is that it encourages moral relativism, the be- are returning to”character education” programs, popular lief that “anything goes.” Pushed to its extreme, it creates in the 1920s and 1930s, where certain “virtues” such as social chaos because no one can be held to any universal honesty, fairness, and loyalty, are taught to students (or societal) moral standard. “Values clarification” is along with the regular academic subjects. Unfortunately, generally seen today to be a valuable component of there is little or no agreement as to which “virtues” are moral education, but incomplete on its own. important and what exactly each “virtue” means. For ex- ample, when a student expresses dislike of another stu- Lawrence Kohlberg devised a moral education pro- dent, is she or he practicing the virtue of “fairness” or, gram in the 1960s based on his cognitive development rather, being insensitive to another’s feelings? If a stu- theory. Called the Just Community program, it utilizes dent refuses to salute the flag, is he or she betraying the age-appropriate (or stage-appropriate) discussions of virtue of “loyalty” or, rather, being loyal to some higher moral dilemmas, democratic rule-making, and the cre- moral precept? These complex questions plague “charac- ation of a community context where students and teach- ter education” programs today, and their effectiveness re- ers can act on their moral decisions. Just Community pro- mains in dispute. grams have been established in schools, prisons, and Another approach to moral education that became other institutions with a fair amount of success. Exposure popular in the 1960s and 1970s is known as “values clar- to moral questions and the opportunity to practice moral GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION 437

Moral development behavior in a supportive community appear to foster thy and place care for one person over concern for social rules. In a different context, that same person might in- deeper moral reasoning and more constructive behavior. stead insist on following social rules for the good of so- Overall, democratic family and school systems are ciety, even though someone may suffer because of it. much more likely to promote the development of internal People also show a lack of consistent morality by some- self-controls and moral growth than are authoritarian or times choosing to act in a way that they know is not permissive systems. Permissive systems fail to instill any controls, while authoritarian systems instill only fear of people. This discrepancy between moral judgment (per- punishment, which is not an effective deterrent unless moral, while continuing to consider themselves “moral” ceiving an act as morally right or wrong) and moral there is a real chance of being caught (punishment can choice (deciding whether to act in the morally “right” even become a reward for immoral behavior when it is way) can be explained in a number of ways, any one of the only attention a person ever gets). True moral be- which may be true in a given situation: havior involves a number of internal processes that are best developed through warm, caring parenting with •weakness of will (the person is overwhelmed by de- clear and consistent expectations, emphasis on the rein- sire); forcement of positive behaviors (rather than the punish- •weakness of conscience (guilt feelings are not strong ment of negative ones), modeling of moral behavior by enough to overcome tempation); or adults, and creation of opportunities for the child to prac- • limited/flexible morality (some latitude allowed in moral tice moral reasoning and actions. behavior while still maintaining a”moral” identity). As previously stated, there is disagreement as to the The Moral Balance model proposes that most hu- exact motivations involved in moral behavior. Whatever mans operate out of a limited or flexible morality. Rather the motivations, however, the internal processes remain than expecting moral perfection from ourselves or oth- the same. ers, we set certain limits beyond which we cannot go. The Four Component model describes them as fol- Within those limits, however, there is some flexibility in lows: moral decision-making. Actions such as taking coins left 1) moral sensitivity = empathy (identifying with an- in the change-box of a public telephone may be deemed other’s experience) and cognition of the effect of various acceptable (though not perfectly moral), while stealing possible actions on others; money from an open, unattended cash register is not. Many factors are involved in the determination of moral 2) moral judgment = choosing which action is the acceptability from situation to situation, and the limits most moral; on moral behavior are often slippery. If given proper en- 3) moral motivation = deciding to behave in the couragement and the opportunity to practice a coherent moral way, as opposed to other options; and inner sense of morality, however, most people will devel- op a balanced morality to guide their day-to-day interac- 4) implementation = carrying out the chosen moral tions with their world. action. According to personal (social) goal theory, moral Dianne K. Daeg de Mott (or prosocial) behavior is motivated by the desire to sat- isfy a variety of personal and social goals, some of which are self-oriented (selfish), and some of which are Further Reading other-oriented (altruistic). The four major internal moti- Crittenden, Paul. Learning to be Moral: Philosophical vations for moral behavior as presented by personal (so- Thoughts About Moral Development. Atlantic Highlands, cial) goal theorists are: 1) empathy; 2) the belief that NJ: Humanities Press International, 1990. people are valuable in and of themselves and therefore Gilligan, Carol. In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and should be helped; 3) the desire to fulfill moral rules; and Women’s Development. Cambridge: Harvard University 4) self-interest. In social domain theory, moral reasoning Press, 1982. is said to develop within particular social “domains”: 1) Kohlberg, Lawrence. Essays on Moral Development, I: The moral (e.g., welfare, justice, rights); 2) social-conven- Philosophy of Moral Development: Moral Stages and the Idea of Justice. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1981. tional (social rules for the orderly function of society); ———. Essays on Moral Development, II: The Psychology of and 3) personal (pure self-interest, exempt from social or Moral Development. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1984. moral rules). ———. Child Psychology and Childhood Education: A Cog- Most people in fact have more than one moral nitive-Developmental View. New York: Longman, 1987. “voice” and shift among them depending on the situa- Kurtines, William M., and Jacob L. Gewirtz, eds. Moral Devel- tion. In one context, a person may respond out of empa- opment: An Introduction. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1995. 438 GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION

Power, F. C., Ann Higgins, and Lawrence Kohlberg. Lawrence certificate. When the war ended, William Morgan re- Kohlberg’s Approach to Moral Education: A Study of turned, and the two were married in 1919. A year later Three Democratic High Schools. New York: Columbia Christiana Morgan gave birth to a son, Thomas. University Press, 1989. Schulman, Michael, and Eva Mekler. Bringing Up a Moral Child: A New Approach for Teaching Your Child to Be Kind, Just, and Responsible, rev. ed. New York: Main Embarks on research career Christiana Drummond Morgan Street Books/Doubleday, 1994. The family moved to New York, where Morgan Further Information studied at the Art Students League from 1921 to 1924. Developmental Studies Center. 2000 Embarcadero, Suite 305, Around this time the Morgans became increasingly close Oakland, CA 94606-5300, (510) 533–0213, (800) to Henry Murray and his wife. Henry Murray and Chris- 666–7270. tiana Morgan were quickly drawn to each other but were Center for the Advancement of Ethics and Character. Boston reluctant to begin an affair. Both allowed themselves to University School of Education, 605 Commonwealth be analyzed in Switzerland by the psychiatrist and for- Ave., Room 356, Boston, MA 02215, (617) 353–3262, mer Freud disciple Carl Jung,who encouraged the af- fax: (617) 353–3924. fair as a way for both to unlock their unconscious. Al- Educators for Social Responsibility (ESR). 23 Garden St., though both Morgan and Murray remained married to Cambridge, MA 02138, (800) 370–2515. The Heartwood Institute. 425 N. Craig St., Suite 302, Pitts- their respective spouses, (her husband died in 1934; burgh, PA 15213, (800) 432–7810. Murray’s wife in 1964), the two were together until Mor- gan’s death. In the 1930s Murray and Morgan were part of the group that created the Harvard Psychological Clinic; later, Morgan was named a Radcliffe Research Christiana Drummond Fellow, a title she held for the rest of her career. Morgan 1897-1967 Co-creates Thematic Apperception Test American clinician who co-created the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT). Morgan’s analysis with Jung led to a series of “vi- sions” experienced in a semi-hypnotic state. Jung en- Christiana Drummond Morgan grew up living the couraged her to draw these visions, which he used in his life of a debutante and may well have become no more ongoing research into the unconscious mind. Morgan’s than a society figure. Because she came of age at a time visions eventually became less psychologically provoca- of social upheaval throughout the world, and because her tive to Jung, but her experience set the stage for what she life crossed paths with many influential scientists and in- and Murray would develop together in the 1930s in tellectuals, she was able to expand her talents and make Cambridge, Massachusetts—the Thematic Appercep- important contributions to behavioral therapy. Her un- tion Test (TAT). orthodox romance with the behaviorist Henry Murray The TAT was a series of pictures (the test today con- no doubt opened many doors for her, and she served as sists of 31 pictures), each depicting some sort of inter- an inspiration for much of Murray’s work as well. Yet personal problem between people. Subjects are asked to the affair also kept her, in large part, in Murray’s shadow. create a short narrative story to go along with each pic- Combined with often precarious health, as well as the ture. Different pictures can be used for men, women, and skepticism male psychologists harbored toward female children. The idea behind the TAT is that as a person psychologists, it is not merely a platitude to say that she composes a story to accompany each picture, he or she possessed a store of untapped potential. will unconsciously reveal information that would not Born in Boston on October 6, 1897, Morgan was the otherwise be shared. Based on this information, a trained second of three daughters of William and Isabella psychologist can determine some of the dynamics of the Coolidge Councilman. William Councilman was a individual’s personality. Morgan and Murray first pub- physician who served as a professor at Harvard Medical lished their description of TAT in 1935. Initially, the TAT School. Young Christiana and her sisters were raised like was known as the Morgan-Murray Thematic Appercep- many well-to-do girls and attended private schools. In tion Test. Later, Murray was given primary credit for the 1917 she met William Morgan, a Harvard student; they test, along with “the staff of the Harvard Psychological became engaged shortly before he went to fight in the Clinic.” Why Morgan’s credit was downplayed has been First World War. She went to New York, where she en- the source of speculation, but apparently she did not rolled in a nursing program and received a nurse’s aide question this move. GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION 439

For the next three decades, Morgan continued her Motivation work at Harvard, although she was plagued by a number abandoned, its evolutionary perspective has been adopt- ed by sociobiologists considering a wide range of human behavior, from aggression to interpersonal attraction, of health problems. Her blood pressure was so danger- ously high that she was obliged to undergo an operation called a radical sympathectomy, which severs the body’s from the standpoint of natural selection and the survival of humans as a species. sympathetic nervous system from the spinal cord. (This Drive-reduction theory, which is biologically-ori- operation, which can have severe side effects, is no longer ented but also encompasses learning, centers on the performed today.) In later years, she succumbed to alco- concept of homeostasis, or equilibrium. According to holism. All the while her stormy relationship with Mur- this theory, humans are constantly striving to maintain ray continued. By now Murray was recognized as an im- homeostasis by adjusting themselves to change. Any portant figure in behavioral psychology. His interest in imbalance creates a need and a resulting drive—a state her seemed to wax and wane—and even though she was of arousal that prompts action to restore the sense of aware of what was happening, her emotional attachment balance and thereby reduce the drive. The drive called was too strong for her to break off the relationship. In the thirst, for example, prompts us to drink, after which the mid-1960s Murray became infatuated with a younger thirst is reduced. In drive-reduction theory, motivation woman, although he did not break off his relationship is seen not just as a result of biological instincts, but with Morgan. The strain appeared to be too much for rather as a combination of learning and biology. The Morgan, now 69. On March 14, 1967, during a trip with primary drives, such as hunger and thirst, are basic Murray to the Virgin islands, Morgan drowned herself. physiological needs that are unlearned. However, there is also a system of learned drives known as secondary- George A. Milite drives that are not biological (such as the desire for money) but that prompt action in much the same way as the primary drives. Further Reading Douglas, Claire. Translate This Darkness: The Life of Chris- Another biologically-oriented theory of motivation tiana Morgan. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1993. is arousal theory, which posits that each person is driven to achieve his or her optimum level of arousal, acting in ways that will increase this level when it is too low and decrease it when it is too high. Peak performance of Motivation tasks is usually associated with moderate levels of arousal. Researchers have found that difficult tasks (at The drive that produces goal-directed behavior. which people might “freeze” from nervousness) are best accomplished at moderate arousal levels, while easier The study of motivation is concerned with the influ- ones can be successfully completed at higher levels. ences that govern the initiation, direction, intensity, and Psychologically-oriented theories of motivation em- persistence of behavior. Three categories of motives have phasize external environmental factors and the role of been recognized by many researchers: primary or bio- thoughts and expectations in motivation. Incentive theo- logical (hunger and the regulation of food intake); stimu- ry argues that motivation results from environmental lus-seeking (internal needs for cognitive, physical, and stimuli in the form of positive and negative incentives, emotional stimulation, or intrinsic and extrinsic re- and the value these incentives hold at a given time. Food, wards); and learned (motives acquired through reward for example, would be a stronger incentive when a per- and punishment, or by observation of others). son is hungry. Cognitive theories emphasize the impor- Instinct theories, which were popular early in the tance of mental processes in goal-directed behavior. twentieth century, take a biological approach to motiva- Many theorists have agreed, for example, that people are tion. Ethologists study instinctual animal behavior to more strongly motivated when they project a positive find patterns that are unlearned, uniform in expression, outcome to their actions. Achievement-oriented individ- and universal in a species. Similarly, instinct theory in uals learn at an early age to strive for excellence, main- humans emphasizes the inborn, automatic, involuntary, tain optimistic expectations, and to not be readily dis- and unlearned processes which control and direct human couraged by failure. Conversely, individuals who consis- behavior. Scientific development of the instinct theory tently fear failure have been found to set goals that are consisted largely of drawing up lists of instincts. In too high or too low and become easily discouraged by 1908, William McDougall (1871-1938) postulated 18 obstacles. The concept of learned helplessness centers human instincts; within 20 years, the list of instincts had on how behavior is affected by the degree of control that grown to 10,000. Although instinct theory has since been is possible in a given situation. 440 GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION