The psychology of personality has always attempted to define the individual in relation to normative data. However, personality theory should be attempting to define individuals from an interactive measurement model, examining the individual in terms of his own subjective impressions about what he does, with a conception of what he does not do.…

Historically, theories of personality development assigned prominence to the construct of autonomy, which often represented a developmental endpoint. To develop and validate an observer measure of autonomy and to further describe the dynamics underlying the personality and behavior of autonomous individuals, a 10-item scale (Auto CQ) was developed…

This study was conducted to determine: the demographic characteristics of beginning teachers in West Virginia; the personality needs of beginning teachers; and the school climate these teachers perceived in their schools. The sample consisted of 250 of the 738 teachers in West Virginia who were completing their first year of teaching in 1987. The…

A study of the stability of teacher behavior over time was formulated through two major questions: (1) Is the behavior of an individual teacher consistent over time? and (2) Are individual differences among teachers consistent over time? Regrettably, the first question has rarely been considered in previous investigations of the stability of…

Q methodology, a theory-based research technique begun by William Stephenson, permits a scientific approach to the study of subjective ideas, and proves useful in studying intrapersonal communication processes in a variety of contexts. The Q-sort, which incorporates Q methodology into a measure, allows respondents to sort statements (pictures or…

Judaism provides for human mental health as well as modern psychology since all elements of counseling philosophy and techniques are inherent in classic Jewish institutions and practices. As opposed to a behaviorist theory of determinism, the Judaic theory of personality and development believes man is endowed with free will but only at the point…

Masters level counseling graduates often provide clinical services in applied settings. To investigate the status of psychodiagnostic testing in masters level counseling (terminal) programs in the United States, all 48 masters level counseling training programs (excluding those with doctoral level training) received a one page questionnaire.…

Recent experiments have shown that people process information about themselves more efficiently than other kinds of information. To investigate individual differences in the processing of self-relevant information, subjects (N=41) rated the self- and other-applicability of 90 traits and completed nine standard personality scales. Several measures…

Previous research dealing with educational and vocational choices of college students has resulted in contradictory theories about why some students remain undecided. To determine if self-reported personality characteristics, when studied in conjunction with tested characteristics, increased the ability to discriminate between academic…

The relationship between personal development and mastery of instructional skills in a preservice teacher education program was studied. The sample of 80 students were in elementary, early childhood, and special education programs. Questions posed were: (1) How well do the personal development instruments describe the students? (2) Are there…

The results obtained in a series of investigations with locus of control used as an independent variable provide evidence in support of the results obtained from situationally contrived studies of perceived control. The impact of stressors seems to be diminished in situations in which participants can exercise some degree of control. Likewise,…

A study was designed to investigate the ways in which graduate students respond to the fact that their competence must be repeatedly valued by means of grades, written and oral examinations, letters of recommendations, dissertation approvals, and various less official procedures. Some students, the gamesmen, have developed strategies for evading…

Preliminary data on the longitudinal study, Project Talent, indicate that education is making a large and important contribution to the quality of life of those sampled. Two main areas in which a large discrepancy exists between needs and present status are cited. (AM)

Bem's Psychological Androgyny Theory (PAT) posits two independent domains of behavior on which individuals may be rated. Instrumental (Type I) behavior reflects a problem-solving orientation; expressive (Type E) behavior reflects an affective concern for the welfare of others. To examine the hypothesis that these two dimensions theoretically…