- Email: [email protected]
Psychodiagnostik-probleme, methoden, ergebnisse
223
BOOK REVIEWS
Differences between the organization of this and the previous book (Becker. 1974) reflect some of the quickly shifting emphases in contemporary research. Epidemiology and Classification & Measurement are not included as separate issues, and Subtypes of Depression, instead of having a chapter to itself. shares the introductory overview with a section on definition and an extended discussion of “Possible EvolutionarqAdaptive Aspects of Depression as Exemplified in Animal Models”. The new section on “Theoretical Perspectives on Depression: Psychodynamics” combines material from two previously separate chapters. Psychodynamic Theories. on the one hand, and Cognitive and Behavioural Theories. on the other. reflecting a rupprochrmenr between formerly distinct approaches (cf. Ferster. 1974). Interpersonal and transactional perspectives receive greater emphasis. and there are separate subsections on “Undue Interpersonal Dependency and Predisposition to Depression” and on “Applications of Cognitive-Behavioural Approaches to Treatment”. In accordance with its current popularity, psycho-social research receives proportionately more attention in the new book. Personality Functioning just about holds its own. though the particular issues treated under the heading to more highly differentiated have shifted from more global traditional rubrics such as “Communication” as one might expect. Finally. the two chapters conceptual labels such as “Expressive Style and Content”, in the 1974 work on “Biological Aspects” are condensed into one on “Biological Perspectives”. in effect summarizes This change in the terminology of chapter headings from “aspects” to “perspectives” what appears to be changing not only in the summarizing but also in the research summarized. Earlier research in the area represented an attempt to define some assumed ideal Platonic essence of “depression” which. it was evidently thought. could be neatly partitioned into traditional analytic categories. The experimental studies of the performance of hospitalized depressed patients on batteries of standard psychometric measures and laboratory tasks recently reviewed by Miller (1975) exemplifies this approach. Contemporary research, by contrast. might be described as a kind of experimental discourse: the “experiment” now seeks not to establish some characteristic of depression per se but to explore the implications, both practical and metatheoretical. of talking about its phenomena in a variety of idioms. The task of summarizing what is being found has shifted from synthesizing results obtained within a single standard paradigm to narrating a conspectus of a diversity of paradigms (Kuhn. 1962), and to be fair to Becker it must be acknowledged that the conventions for doing so efficiently have not yet fully evolved. The eventual outcome of the new-style research is expected to take the form of a higher-order integrative theory befitting the complexity of the phenomena (cf. Akiskal and McKinney. 1975). but. as Becker points out one more than one occasion. the time IS not yet ripe. If the interim report on the proceedings is more akin to the Rosetta Stone than to tablets brought down from the mountain. the intrepid and indefatigable reporter can hardly be held to blame. VICKY RIPPERE REFERENCES AKISKAL H. S. and Psychiat.
MCKINNEY. JR., W. T. (1975) Overview
of recent
research
in depression.
Archs
gun.
32, 28S305.
BECKER J. (1974) Depression: Theory and Research. John Wiley, London. FERsTER C. B. (1974) Behavioural approaches to depression. In The Psychology of Depression: Conrrrnporor~ Theory and Research (Eds. R. J. FRIEDEMAN and M. M. KATZ). John Wiley. London. KUHN T. S. (1962) The Srrucrure oj Scienrifc Revolutions. University of Chicago Press. Chicago. MILLER W. R. (1975) Psychological deficit in depression. Psycho/. Bull. 82. 238-260.
F. KLIX: Inforrntrriotl
wit/
G. CLAUSS: Wtirrrrhuch W. GCITJAHR: Dir
Verhtrlrerr.
Deutscher
Verlag
der Wissenschaften.
drr
Ps!cho/oyie.
Bibliographisches
Messung
Psychischer
Eigenschyfien.
Institut. Deutscher
Leipzig Verlag
W. G~TJAHR. D. ROETHER. G. GROST and K. SCHMIDT: Verfirhr<,n jiir Verlag der Wissenschaften. Berlin (1974). J. GUTHKE: Zur (1974).
Diuynostik
der
Inrellekruellen
LernJiihiykeit.
H. RBSLER. H. SCHMIDT and H. SZEWCAYK: Persiinlichkeits Berlin (1976).
( 1971)
(I 976) der Wlssenschaften.
Berlin
(1974).
Dicr(lnc>sriA r/c,r Sc/ur//trhig~~~ir. Deutscher
Deutscher
Verlag
Deutscher
Diugnosrik.
H. R. B~~TTCHER.A. SEEBER and G. WITZLACK: Psychodiagnostik-Problrme. Verlag der Wissenschaften. Berlin (1974). In theory science is international; in practice, there is no It is well known that American psychologists do not even speaking psychologists should be fainiliar with publications astonishment if not with laughter among modem students. improvement in the quality of work done for instance in
Berlin
der
Wissenschaften.
Verlag
Methoden.
Berlin
der Wissenschaften.
Ergebnissr.
Deutscher
doubt that psychology at least is very parochial. read English journals. and the idea that English in German or French would be greeted with This is regrettable; there has been a considerable Germany.
and much
interesting
material
will be
224
BOOK
REVIEWS
10 those who do not keep a weather eye lifting and study the publications in that country. What is true of West Germany is also true of the D.D.R.. i.e. the East German Republic; several books containing interesting material have been published there lately. and this brief notice may serve to attract the attention of readers whose linguistic capacities have not atrophied. The most important of these books is one by KLix (1971) who devotes over 800 pages to a discussion of the place of cybernetics and information theory in the mediation of behaviour. This is a work which lost
is both original and well informed. and it is sad to say that it has not received much critical acclaim m English speaking countries. No-one interested in this area can afford to miss the many insightful comments
and the intriguing orig,nal experiments reported by Klix. Readers who lack the knowledge of technical terms in German may welcome the dictionary published by Clauss (19%). which is introduced on the blurb as the first lexicographic book in German which is based on Marxist-Leninist teaching. To those who might be put off by this rather odd claim It may be explained that the great majority of definitions are perfectly straightforward and sensible. and the intrusion of the Marxist-Leninist jargon is so obvious that it can easily be disregarded. The definitions on the whole are accurate and well documented, even though there is a preponderance of Russian authors, and a dearth of American ones. Perhaps this very fact may redress a balance which has been seriously upset by the American habits of autarchy already referred to! The book by Gutjahr (1974) is an excellent though somewhat technical introduction to the problem of me~urement of ~ychologi~l qualities. It deals with many fundamental problems. and includes one of the best expositions of the Rasch model I have come across. It was introduced as a textbook. and if German psychologists really work through a book of this high quality one cannot but feel that their work in the future will be well informed at least as far as psychometric problems of measurement are concerned. The book by Gutjahr et al. is concerned with an evaluation of a special test (Lerntest) by Roether which is designed to measure concrete thinking. The test bears a striking similarity to ordinary non-verbal IQ tests and has about the same kind of reliability and validity as would say the Raven’s Matrices. The.work of construction and validation is well done and psychometrically sound. The book helps to set at rest the minds of those who were worried that in communist countries the benefit of IQ testing may not be experienced; the term may be denigrated. but the reality persists! The book by Guthke (1974) should be of great interest to educational psychologists and psychologists working in Child Guidance Clinics. It attempts to substitute for IQ me~urement objectively determined reactions to an instructional process in children. comparing pre- and post-teaching scores of a variety of tests. One need not agree with the Marxist-Leninist criticisms of IQ testing to feel that the author is on to something important and worthwhile. There are many detailed findings in this book which should be of interest to educational psychologists, and the methodology at least deserves to be followed up by workers in the English speaking countries. The last two books to be considered deal with diagnostic problems 2nd contain numbers of smaller contributions by a great variety of East German psychologists. It is reassuring to see that they have the same problems, and oftm come to the same conclusions, as do British and American clinical psychologists. They report for instance on the differentiation between neurotics and normals which can be achieved by neuroticism questionnaires, coming up with results very similar to those familiar here. The great variety of reports makes it impossible to present even a summary of the conclusions. but it is clear that a great deal of interesting work is going on in East Germany, including for instance work on diagnostic problems with psychophysiological methods of measurement. The level of work is certainly not inferior, although not superior either, to that which we are used to in this country, and the only reason for neglecting these publications can be the difficulty presented by the language. It is sad to realize that modern universities devalue the learning of foreign languages more and more, and that it is not an absolute prerequisite for passing a degree examination in psychology. In the long run one cannot but conclude that laziness will always win over wisdom! H. J. EYSENCK
BOOK REVIEWS
Differences between the organization of this and the previous book (Becker. 1974) reflect some of the quickly shifting emphases in contemporary research. Epidemiology and Classification & Measurement are not included as separate issues, and Subtypes of Depression, instead of having a chapter to itself. shares the introductory overview with a section on definition and an extended discussion of “Possible EvolutionarqAdaptive Aspects of Depression as Exemplified in Animal Models”. The new section on “Theoretical Perspectives on Depression: Psychodynamics” combines material from two previously separate chapters. Psychodynamic Theories. on the one hand, and Cognitive and Behavioural Theories. on the other. reflecting a rupprochrmenr between formerly distinct approaches (cf. Ferster. 1974). Interpersonal and transactional perspectives receive greater emphasis. and there are separate subsections on “Undue Interpersonal Dependency and Predisposition to Depression” and on “Applications of Cognitive-Behavioural Approaches to Treatment”. In accordance with its current popularity, psycho-social research receives proportionately more attention in the new book. Personality Functioning just about holds its own. though the particular issues treated under the heading to more highly differentiated have shifted from more global traditional rubrics such as “Communication” as one might expect. Finally. the two chapters conceptual labels such as “Expressive Style and Content”, in the 1974 work on “Biological Aspects” are condensed into one on “Biological Perspectives”. in effect summarizes This change in the terminology of chapter headings from “aspects” to “perspectives” what appears to be changing not only in the summarizing but also in the research summarized. Earlier research in the area represented an attempt to define some assumed ideal Platonic essence of “depression” which. it was evidently thought. could be neatly partitioned into traditional analytic categories. The experimental studies of the performance of hospitalized depressed patients on batteries of standard psychometric measures and laboratory tasks recently reviewed by Miller (1975) exemplifies this approach. Contemporary research, by contrast. might be described as a kind of experimental discourse: the “experiment” now seeks not to establish some characteristic of depression per se but to explore the implications, both practical and metatheoretical. of talking about its phenomena in a variety of idioms. The task of summarizing what is being found has shifted from synthesizing results obtained within a single standard paradigm to narrating a conspectus of a diversity of paradigms (Kuhn. 1962), and to be fair to Becker it must be acknowledged that the conventions for doing so efficiently have not yet fully evolved. The eventual outcome of the new-style research is expected to take the form of a higher-order integrative theory befitting the complexity of the phenomena (cf. Akiskal and McKinney. 1975). but. as Becker points out one more than one occasion. the time IS not yet ripe. If the interim report on the proceedings is more akin to the Rosetta Stone than to tablets brought down from the mountain. the intrepid and indefatigable reporter can hardly be held to blame. VICKY RIPPERE REFERENCES AKISKAL H. S. and Psychiat.
MCKINNEY. JR., W. T. (1975) Overview
of recent
research
in depression.
Archs
gun.
32, 28S305.
BECKER J. (1974) Depression: Theory and Research. John Wiley, London. FERsTER C. B. (1974) Behavioural approaches to depression. In The Psychology of Depression: Conrrrnporor~ Theory and Research (Eds. R. J. FRIEDEMAN and M. M. KATZ). John Wiley. London. KUHN T. S. (1962) The Srrucrure oj Scienrifc Revolutions. University of Chicago Press. Chicago. MILLER W. R. (1975) Psychological deficit in depression. Psycho/. Bull. 82. 238-260.
F. KLIX: Inforrntrriotl
wit/
G. CLAUSS: Wtirrrrhuch W. GCITJAHR: Dir
Verhtrlrerr.
Deutscher
Verlag
der Wissenschaften.
drr
Ps!cho/oyie.
Bibliographisches
Messung
Psychischer
Eigenschyfien.
Institut. Deutscher
Leipzig Verlag
W. G~TJAHR. D. ROETHER. G. GROST and K. SCHMIDT: Verfirhr<,n jiir Verlag der Wissenschaften. Berlin (1974). J. GUTHKE: Zur (1974).
Diuynostik
der
Inrellekruellen
LernJiihiykeit.
H. RBSLER. H. SCHMIDT and H. SZEWCAYK: Persiinlichkeits Berlin (1976).
( 1971)
(I 976) der Wlssenschaften.
Berlin
(1974).
Dicr(lnc>sriA r/c,r Sc/ur//trhig~~~ir. Deutscher
Deutscher
Verlag
Deutscher
Diugnosrik.
H. R. B~~TTCHER.A. SEEBER and G. WITZLACK: Psychodiagnostik-Problrme. Verlag der Wissenschaften. Berlin (1974). In theory science is international; in practice, there is no It is well known that American psychologists do not even speaking psychologists should be fainiliar with publications astonishment if not with laughter among modem students. improvement in the quality of work done for instance in
Berlin
der
Wissenschaften.
Verlag
Methoden.
Berlin
der Wissenschaften.
Ergebnissr.
Deutscher
doubt that psychology at least is very parochial. read English journals. and the idea that English in German or French would be greeted with This is regrettable; there has been a considerable Germany.
and much
interesting
material
will be
224
BOOK
REVIEWS
10 those who do not keep a weather eye lifting and study the publications in that country. What is true of West Germany is also true of the D.D.R.. i.e. the East German Republic; several books containing interesting material have been published there lately. and this brief notice may serve to attract the attention of readers whose linguistic capacities have not atrophied. The most important of these books is one by KLix (1971) who devotes over 800 pages to a discussion of the place of cybernetics and information theory in the mediation of behaviour. This is a work which lost
is both original and well informed. and it is sad to say that it has not received much critical acclaim m English speaking countries. No-one interested in this area can afford to miss the many insightful comments
and the intriguing orig,nal experiments reported by Klix. Readers who lack the knowledge of technical terms in German may welcome the dictionary published by Clauss (19%). which is introduced on the blurb as the first lexicographic book in German which is based on Marxist-Leninist teaching. To those who might be put off by this rather odd claim It may be explained that the great majority of definitions are perfectly straightforward and sensible. and the intrusion of the Marxist-Leninist jargon is so obvious that it can easily be disregarded. The definitions on the whole are accurate and well documented, even though there is a preponderance of Russian authors, and a dearth of American ones. Perhaps this very fact may redress a balance which has been seriously upset by the American habits of autarchy already referred to! The book by Gutjahr (1974) is an excellent though somewhat technical introduction to the problem of me~urement of ~ychologi~l qualities. It deals with many fundamental problems. and includes one of the best expositions of the Rasch model I have come across. It was introduced as a textbook. and if German psychologists really work through a book of this high quality one cannot but feel that their work in the future will be well informed at least as far as psychometric problems of measurement are concerned. The book by Gutjahr et al. is concerned with an evaluation of a special test (Lerntest) by Roether which is designed to measure concrete thinking. The test bears a striking similarity to ordinary non-verbal IQ tests and has about the same kind of reliability and validity as would say the Raven’s Matrices. The.work of construction and validation is well done and psychometrically sound. The book helps to set at rest the minds of those who were worried that in communist countries the benefit of IQ testing may not be experienced; the term may be denigrated. but the reality persists! The book by Guthke (1974) should be of great interest to educational psychologists and psychologists working in Child Guidance Clinics. It attempts to substitute for IQ me~urement objectively determined reactions to an instructional process in children. comparing pre- and post-teaching scores of a variety of tests. One need not agree with the Marxist-Leninist criticisms of IQ testing to feel that the author is on to something important and worthwhile. There are many detailed findings in this book which should be of interest to educational psychologists, and the methodology at least deserves to be followed up by workers in the English speaking countries. The last two books to be considered deal with diagnostic problems 2nd contain numbers of smaller contributions by a great variety of East German psychologists. It is reassuring to see that they have the same problems, and oftm come to the same conclusions, as do British and American clinical psychologists. They report for instance on the differentiation between neurotics and normals which can be achieved by neuroticism questionnaires, coming up with results very similar to those familiar here. The great variety of reports makes it impossible to present even a summary of the conclusions. but it is clear that a great deal of interesting work is going on in East Germany, including for instance work on diagnostic problems with psychophysiological methods of measurement. The level of work is certainly not inferior, although not superior either, to that which we are used to in this country, and the only reason for neglecting these publications can be the difficulty presented by the language. It is sad to realize that modern universities devalue the learning of foreign languages more and more, and that it is not an absolute prerequisite for passing a degree examination in psychology. In the long run one cannot but conclude that laziness will always win over wisdom! H. J. EYSENCK