Book Review: Statistical Reasoning in Psychology. An Introduction and Guide

That the effects-both during and post-isolation-are a good deal less consistent than had been supposed. For instance, some authors report a high incidence and others a low incidence of significant perceptual changes. It also seems clear that the social and emotional aspects of the isolation experience are of much greater importance than was a t first realized-which no doubt accounts for the interest taken by some psychiatrists. Obviously, then, what is called “reduction of environmental stimulation” involves changes a t a number of levels and it is most difficult to say what can, and what cannot, be attributed to deprivation per se. The present book provides a useful review of experimental work on deprivation and includes much material not previously published. On the theoretical side, however, it is a little disappointing. The three authors who contribute to the final section do little more than assimilate the broad findings to their pre-existing schemes of psychological explanation. Lindsley, for instance, suggests that deprivation may well alter the inputoutput level in the C.N.S., most likely via the reticular formation. Bruner sees it as a process which “disrupts the vital evaluation process by which one constantly monitors . . . the strategies one has learned to employ in dealing with the environment.” Kubie, who has long striven to integrate psychoanalysis with neurology, thinks that deprivation may alter the distribution of afferent input as between conscious, preconscious and unconscious systems. A t the present stage of things, it would seem, we can have as many theories of deprivation as we have disciplines. The second book is stated to be the outcome of a project undertaken by the Bureau of Social Research, Inc. The preparation, we are told, “. . . was supported in part by the United States Air Force under Contract 18(600)-1797 monitored by the Rome Air Development Center of the Air Research and Development Command under Contract AF49(638)187 monitored by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research of the Air Research and Development Command.” This, clearly, is the modern world and as might be anticipated the topic is in reality brain washing (here called interrogation). There is some quite well presented material on altered physiological states, drugs and hypnosis in relation to the extraction of information. The final chapter bears the splendid title : “Countermanipulation through Malingering.