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Biomedical subjects

A Tellegen

Publications and source records attributed to A Tellegen.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Emergenesis. Genetic traits that may not run in families.

Traits that are influenced by a configuration--rather than by a simple sum--of polymorphic genes may not be seen to be genetic unless one studies monozygotic twins (who share all their genes and thus all gene configurations) because such "emergenic" traits will tend not to run in families. Personal idiosyncrasies that have been found to be surprisingly concordant among MZ twins separated in infancy and reared apart may be emergenic traits. More speculatively, important human traits like leadership, genius in its many manifestations, being an effective therapist or parent, as well as certain psychopathological syndromes may also be emergenic. These ideas reemphasize the importance of the role played in human affairs by genetic variation.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Sources of human psychological differences: the Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart.

Since 1979, a continuing study of monozygotic and dizygotic twins, separated in infancy and reared apart, has subjected more than 100 sets of reared-apart twins or triplets to a week of intensive psychological and physiological assessment. Like the prior, smaller studies of monozygotic twins reared apart, about 70% of the variance in IQ was found to be associated with genetic variation. On multiple measures of personality and temperament, occupational and leisure-time interests, and social attitudes, monozygotic twins reared apart are about as similar as are monozygotic twins reared together. These findings extend and support those from numerous other twin, family, and adoption studies. It is a plausible hypothesis that genetic differences affect psychological differences largely indirectly, by influencing the effective environment of the developing child. This evidence for the strong heritability of most psychological traits, sensibly construed, does not detract from the value or importance of parenting, education, and other propaedeutic interventions.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Does contact lead to similarity or similarity to contact?

Evidence from the Finnish Twin Registry (e.g., Rose et al., 1988) shows that adult monozygotic (MZ) twins are more similar, within pairs, in personality if the cotwins are presently cohabiting or in frequent contact than if they are seldom in contact. Results of a follow-up study led Kaprio et al. (1990) to conclude that "changes in social contact between monozygotic cotwins precede (and causally contribute to) changes in their intrapair similarity" (p. 9). If true, this conclusion has important theoretical implications, e.g., many heritability estimates would have to be revised downward. We adduce evidence suggesting that similarity leads to contact, rather than the other way around. Low correlations between twins' frequency of contact and their absolute within-pair difference on all traits thus far studied indicates that, whichever the direction of causality, the relationship between MZ within-pair similarity and their frequency of contact is very weak.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

The Minnesota Twin Family Registry: some initial findings.

A birth-record based Registry is nearing completion of some 8,000 pairs of twins born in Minnesota from 1936 to 1955, plus some 1,200 pairs of male twins born 1971-81. The middle-aged twins were recruited with graded incentives so that ease of recruitment could be measured; it was found that pairs concordant for ease of recruitment were no more similar than discordant pairs in education, socioeconomic status (SES), or a variety of personality and interest factors, ie, that selection bias may not be a problem in research with adult twins when contacts are only by mail. A 50% decrease in neonatal mortality from 1936-55 to 1971-81 was associated with an increase from 3.5 to 4.0 per thousand in the frequency of viable MZ twin births. The broad heritability of SES, educational attainment, fecundity, and risk for divorce ranges from 0.30 to 0.50, although all 4 variables are plainly multifactorial and the latter 2 both involve variance contributed by a second person. Investigators interested in making use of this research resource are invited to submit proposals.

Anthropometry↗
PubMed1988

Personality similarity in twins reared apart and together.

We administered the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ) to 217 monozygotic and 114 dizygotic reared-together adult twin pairs and 44 monozygotic and 27 dizygotic reared-apart adult twin pairs. A four-parameter biometric model (incorporating genetic, additive versus nonadditive, shared family-environment, and unshared environment components) and five reduced models were fitted through maximum-likelihood techniques to data obtained with the 11 primary MPQ scales and its 3 higher order scales. Solely environmental models did not fit any of the scales. Although the other reduced models, including the simple additive model, did fit many of the scales, only the full model provided a satisfactory fit for all scales. Heritabilities estimated by the full model ranged from .39 to .58. Consistent with previous reports, but contrary to widely held beliefs, the overall contribution of a common family-environment component was small and negligible for all but 2 of the 14 personality measures. Evidence of significant nonadditive genetic effects, possibly emergenic (epistatic) in nature, was obtained for 3 of the measures.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: the PANAS scales.

In recent studies of the structure of affect, positive and negative affect have consistently emerged as two dominant and relatively independent dimensions. A number of mood scales have been created to measure these factors; however, many existing measures are inadequate, showing low reliability or poor convergent or discriminant validity. To fill the need for reliable and valid Positive Affect and Negative Affect scales that are also brief and easy to administer, we developed two 10-item mood scales that comprise the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS). The scales are shown to be highly internally consistent, largely uncorrelated, and stable at appropriate levels over a 2-month time period. Normative data and factorial and external evidence of convergent and discriminant validity for the scales are also presented.

Arousal↗
PubMed1988

Competence and stress in school children: the moderating effects of individual and family qualities.

This study examined the associations of stress exposure to various aspects of school-based competence in a normative sample of 205 children aged 8-13. Potential moderators of these relations, including child attributes of sex and IQ and environmental attributes of socioeconomic status (SES) and family qualities, were also studied. Stress exposure was indexed by a life event questionnaire. Competence was assessed by teacher ratings, peer assessments and school record data. Family attributes were derived from a set of rating scales completed by interviewers after 6 hours of interviews with a parent. Results suggest that the relations of stress exposure to competence vary as a function of individual differences as well as the competence criterion. Disadvantaged children, with lower IQ and SES, and less positive family qualities, were generally less competent and more likely to be disruptive at high stress levels. Advantaged children were more competent, and with stress positively engaged in school, but were not likely to be disruptive. Boys were less socially competent than girls and, when stress was high, appeared to be less protected by positive family qualities. Causal hypotheses for future research in this area are discussed.

Achievement↗
PubMed1978

Perceived Somatic Response Inventory: three scales developed by factor analysis.

Studies of autonomic reactivity and of voluntary control of autonomic responses have suggested the importance of individual differences. An inventory of scales was developed to improve the assessment of different dimensions of somatic functioning. In order to enhance their specificity and incremental validity, the scales were constructed to be relatively independent of already known general personality variables such as Stress Reaction (neuroticism), Locus of Control, Hypochondriasis, and Absorption. Three scales, derived from orthogonal factor analyses, were developed and cross-validated: (1) Autonomic Response Frequency, assessing spontaneous fluctuations in autonomic responding; (2) Autonomic Response to Stress, assessing the amount of autonomic arousal perceived by a subject in stress situations; and (3) Somatic Response Control, a self-report measure of capacity to control both autonomic and fine muscle responses. The hypothesis that sympathetic and parasympathetic awareness might define two distinct dimensions was not supported by the data. The new scales will be useful in testing hypotheses of possible relationships among the factors measured and behavioral and psychophysiological indicators of the response to stress.

Adult↗
PubMed1976

Psychological response of patients cured of advanced cancer.

Psychologic testing was performed in 22 patients with advanced cancer (breast, endometrium, testis, lymphoma) who had undergone a complete remission that had been maintained for 5 to 20 years since the last therapy. The reaction to the probability of being cured was measured. The patients' overall attitude was very positive towards life and the future. They had a greater appreciation of time, life, people, and interpersonal reactions. They were less concerned about the nonessentials of life. It appeared that recovery from advanced cancer was a good experience for character development.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1976

Complexity and measurement of hypnotic susceptibility: a comment on Coe and Sarbin's alternative interpretation.

Coe and Sarbin's claim that a single role skill dimension accounts for individual differences in hypnotizability is not supported by an empirical analysis. We suggest that current measures of hypnotic susceptibility are not only factorially complex but contain a sizable nonhypnotic variance component. Implications for the assessment of "true" hypnotic susceptibility are discussed.

Female↗