Firestone's model of psychological defenses: A construct validation study
Abstract
The research reported herein was designed to examine the construct validity of Robert Firestone's (1985) theorized continuum of psychological defenses called the "Voice" and to evaluate the extent to which negative and defensive judgments about other people could be accounted for by using the Lens Model (Brunswik, 1940-1955) to capture subjects' decision-making strategies. Twenty-two volunteers were tested with a variety of self-report measures. The Firestone Voice Scale for Suicide (FVSS) was administered along with a battery of domain-related and relatively standardized other psychological measures for comparison. In addition, subjects were asked to make judgments about the trustworthiness of "others" by means of 150 artificially-created psychological profiles. It was determined that the data supported the existence of Firestone's continuum as well as its theorized domains. Correlation coefficients between the battery instruments and the FVSS ranged from.34 (p $\leq$.05) to.95 (p $\leq$.01) and were in the directions predicted. Subjects demonstrated an awareness of their "Voice" and the effects that the negative thought process had on their relationships and their self-destructive behaviors. Subjects' a priori expectation sets about others, which were theoretically accounted for by "Voice" operations, were possible to predict with the use of Brunswik's (1945) Lens Model. Multiple linear regressions equations were computed for the total 150 judgments that were made by subjects in order to determine their decision-making strategy. All multiple correlations were highly significant and it was possible to predict (from a low of 35% to a high of 76%) the amount of variance in judgments that was related to the subjects' use of cues. Multiple correlations ranged from.59 to.87 and all were significant (p $\leq$.0001). These data demonstrated clinical significance in their high congruence with the FVSS scores and other instruments and information.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Shertzer, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Educational psychology|Psychology|Psychotherapy|Psychological tests
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