Developmental psychology.pdf

Background and Methods
Figure 1.2
Treatment of Mental Disease. The
photograph on the left shows a
private facility; the photograph on the
right shows a state mental hospital.
are more informed and more conservative in public affairs than are the lower classes.
Even mental disorder shows this orderliness, for it is more prevalent, more severe, and
less likely to be treated in the lower classes than in the upper classes (Berelson &
Steiner, 1967; Figure 1.2).
Limited Causality It is doubtful whether scientists would pursue their goals without
a second assumption. This one concerns limited causality, which means that only a
finite number of events are assumed to be significantly related to any other event. If
the number of relations were infinite, the prospects of discovery indeed would be dim.
Virtually everything would influence everything else. But the personal characteristics
of an astronomer are not assumed to influence the phases of the moon, and the behavior
of an African tribesman presumably does not alter the alcoholic consumption of a truck
driver in New York City (Underwood, 1957).
Similarly, a person's chances for recovery through psychotherapy presumably
are not influenced by some undisclosed fossil. However, the person's age, education,
and severity of disorder can be most important. The higher the person's education, the
younger his or her age, and the less severe the disorder, the greater are the person's
chances for improved adjustment. In fact, the greater the person's similarity to the
psychotherapist, the better are his or her prospects for benefit from treatment (Berelson
& Steiner, 1967; Figure 1.3).
With the three Christs it soon became apparent that simply living together
was not an important factor in recovery. It did not significantly alter the identity of
any of the men, at least for the first two months. Even daily discussions concerning
mother, father, marriage, childhood memories, sex, delusions, and identity did not
prompt any change in their delusional systems.
When Joseph said that he was God and later that he was the governor of
Illinois, he was challenged by a member of the research team: "You are both?"
"Yes," came the answer. "I have to earn my living, you know."
The limited causality was clear. This form of confrontation had no significant
influence on the men's false beliefs.
Multiple Basis of Behavior With these two assumptions in mind, we can proceed
to the central theme of this book. Called the multiple basis of behavior, it states that
behavior is typically influenced by many factors. The number of relevant factors in any
one instance presumably is not infinite, and it is assumed that there is an orderliness
among them. Hence, they are potentially discoverable. In much of this book we amplify