PROBLEM Although much has been written about man's interest in time dimensions, only recently there has been an upsurge of studies investigating the relationship between temporal experience and various aspects of personality. There is an increasing tendency for investigators (I3) to be concerned with the relatively molar concept of temporal experience and connect it with the sequence of events involving persons past, present, and future. Time perspective or time orientation are the terms used in referring to this niolar temporal dimension.Studying the effects of psychological disturbance on time perspective is becoming a focal point of investigation. Significantly poorer performance by schizophrenics as compared with normals on time-orientation tasks and a shorter future time perspective for schizophrenics than normals (12, have been reported. Poorer performance by delinquents in contrast with normals on measures of future time perspective has been cited('. l l ) . More recently, a constricted future time perspective has been obtained with alcoholics('), and marked distortions of time sense have been reported for patients with poor reality testingc6).Although the above-mentioned studies report significant differences in time perspective for various diagnostic groups as compared with normals, the relationship between time perspective and severity of psychological disturbance is far from being clear. This study investigated further the implied relationship between future time perspective and severity of psychological disturbance. An hypothesis is tested that in coniparison with the moderately disturbed and normals, severely disturbed Ss will have the shortest future time perspective. Furthermore, to obtain data concerning the influence of severity of psychological disturbance on other cognitive variables, a comparison between severity of disturbance and Internal versus External control (I-E) is made.Internal versus External control may be defined as "the extent to which an individual feels that his own actions determine what happens to him or that what happens to him is deterinined by fate, luck, chance, or powerful forces outside his control"(10). The belief in Internal or External control has been described as a major personality variable (s), and relationships with social action (I), snioking(S), achievement (9), and resistance to subtle suggestion C2) have been reported. METHODSubjects. Our Ss were selected from the total population of a medium size (750 beds) VA neuropsychiatric hospital. Three groups of Ss were selected: A "normal" (non-hospitalized) group (N = 30), a moderately disturbed group (N = 45), and a severely disturbed group. All three groups were closely matched with respect to age, sex, and education, so that only males, within the ages of 20 to 54, with at least an 8th grade education, were included in the sample.The "nonna1" (non-hospitalized) group. The Ss in this group were selected from a roster of nursing, dietetics, and housekeeping personnel. These Ss are residents of sniall local rural ...
The present study investigated the relationship between scores on the Personal Orientation Inventory (POI) and success in Peace Corps training programs in Micronesia. The POI was administered to 92 Peace Corps trainees prior to the beginning of training and the results correlated with the final selection board ratings upon the completion of training. Significant relationships were found for the total group with considerable sex differences for several scales.Attempts to predict trainee success in Peace Corps training programs and subsequent volunteer assignments have produced mixed results. Psychiatric interviews have been found to be ineffective (Fisher, Epstein, & Harris, 1967) as have "sickness"-oriented tests (Smith, 1965) and measures of intellectual ability (Dicken, 1969). Assuming that the crucial variables for Peace Corps trainee success could be best described in terms of positive mental health, Smith (1966) and Ezekiel (1968) found significant correlation coefficients (r = .41 and .34, respectively) between estimates of psychological effectiveness and volunteer success.In recent years, Maslow (1962) has advanced the idea of the self-actualizing person as one who is developing and using all of his unique capabilities and potentialities. The Personal Orientation Inventory (POI) was developed by Shostrom (1966) to provide a measure of values and behavior seen to be of importance in self-actualization and positive mental health as opposed to psychopathology. These values and behaviors are similar to those described elsewhere as providing a coherent core of psychological attributes necessary for competent, effective Peace Corps functioning (Guthrie & McKendry, 1963;Smith, 1966).The present note investigated the relationship between scores on the POI and trainee success in Peace Corps training programs in Micronesia.Method. The 5s for this study were 92 Peace Corps trainees (S3 males, 39 females) participating in an in-country training program in Micronesia. The mean age of the sample was 22.2 yr. All but four of the trainees were college graduates. Each trainee had been screened for physical and psychiatric symptomatology prior to arriving at his respective training site.The POI consists of ISO two-choice, comparative value and behavior judgments. The items were 1 The data of this study were obtained with the assistance of the Peace Corps. This study, however, is the responsibiliy of the authors and should not be construed as an official Peace Corps document.•2 Now at the Center for Cross-Cultural Training and
PROBLEM concerning ego strength emphasizes lack of agreement as to what constitutes ego strength and the poor interrelationships obtained between various measures designed to assess it. This raises a question whether any consistent differences can be observed between groups differing in ego strength. This study compares high and low ego strength groups on three measures: Internal vs. External Control, Time Perspective, and Delay of Gratification. Previous studies('. report a stronger belief in Internal Control, a more extended Time Perspective, and a stronger tendency for Delayed Gratification as being more characteristic of functioning persons rather than those rated relatively high on severity of psychological disturbance. METHOD Much of the current Subjects.A pool of male and female introductory psychology students was used to obtain 45 high and 45 low ego strength Ss. Ss scoring below T score of 50 on Barren's(') Scale were identified as low ego strength (LEs); those scoring above T 50 as high ego strengths (HEs). Ss were matched on I& and age ( Table 1). Measures.A. Internal vs. External Control (1-E). Rotter's(6) InternalExternal Control Questionnaire consists of 29 forced choice items including 6 filler items and is designed to measure one's basic belief in Internal us. External control of reinforcements. The total number of External choices checked constituted the I-E score.Wallace's technique was used to obtain two measures of TP: Future (FTP) and past (PTP). Each S was asked to state 10 things that he thought he would do or he thought would happen to him, and afterwards to specify how far in the future he envisioned each event. This procedure was repeated to obtain PTP, with S being asked to state 10 things that he has done or have happened to him in the past. Ss were asked not to spend much time selecting, but to report those things that occurred to them on first thought.C. Delay of Gratification (DG). An hypothetical choice was used. It consisted of presenting the S with four plastic poker chips and asking him to assign monetary value to these chips. After the value of the chip was obtained, the S was given a choice between one chip now or two later. If the later choice was preferred, the S was asked how long he would be willing to wait to obtain the doubled reward.The three measures Es, I-E, and TP were group administered. Somewhat later, Ss chosen on the basis of the Es scores were asked to participate in a larger experiment, part of which included the DG measure, which was administered individually. A t the same session, the information and similarities subscales of the WAIS were given to estimate I&. Table 1 presents a summary of data for HEs and LEs groups. Highly significant differences between HEs and LEs groups were obtained on the I-E measure (t = 3.6; df = 88; p < .001). HEs Ss have a more extended median FTP and PTP than the LEs Ss, with equal range for both groups (PTP = 1 hr. -15 years; FTP = 1 hr. -50 years). However, using the median for a combined HEs and LEs group B. Time Perspective ...
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