The Effect of Adrenalin on the Apparent Resistance of the Skin

Blind students showed significant differences from their sighted counterparts in assigning gender to 17 commonly used words out of 50. Language seems to help condition perception, and persons who are deprived of vision seem to have different interpretations concerning the meaning of words in the language.     

Level of Muscular Tension as an Aspect of Personality

The purpose of this study was to compare two methods of analyzing the effects of exteroceptive feedback training on the voluntary bidirectional control of human cardiac rate with the use of a within-subject control design. In this design heart rate (HR) during an experimental period (increase or decrease) is compared with that recorded during some other control period, generally a baseline “rest” period. Ten male undergraduates were instructed to control HR and given visual feedback of heart activity. Trials on which Ss were to raise and to lower HR were both given in a single training session. The data were analyzed in two ways: (a) cardiac rate during HR control periods was compared to an initial pre-experiment baseline; (b) cardiac rate during HR control periods was compared to a running pretrial baseline. The results support the argument that the former procedure fails to take account of habituating levels of cardiac rate and favors finding large magnitude decreases in HR but small increases, whereas the latter procedure favors finding large magnitude increases but small decreases. It is suggested that magnitude of directional control will be artifactual when initial values are used to assess change. Contaminating influences on the running pretrial baseline were also discussed.     

The Influence of Voluntarily Induced Tension on Rational Problem Solving

Subjects (N = 152) were administered the Conceptual Systems Test (CST) and the Ross Educational Philosophical Inventory (REPI). The subjects were then classified into one of four conceptual systems, or considered to be an admixture. An analysis of variance was then performed on each of the REPI scales: Idealism, Realism, Pragmatism, and Existentialism. Significance was found among the conceptual systems on each philosophical subtest. System 1 subjects (who are most concrete on a concrete-abstract continuum) had the highest mean on the Idealism subtest; System 2 subjects (who are only slightly more abstract than System 1 subjects) were higher on the remaining three philosophical subtests. Also, the highest correlation occurring among the CST and the REPI occurred between Divine Fate Control and Idealism (r = .53).     

The Effect of Temperature at the Poles on the Apparent Resistance of the Skin

The study investigated whether gerbils would compensate for a dietary-induced sodium deficiency by freely ingesting NaCl solutions. Accordingly, adult Mongolian gerbils were fed either a sodium-deficient diet (N = 30) or a sodium-replete ration (N = 30) for 30 days. Then, each group was divided into three subgroups (five males and five females per subgroup). One sodium-deprived subgroup and one sodium-replete subgroup were assigned to Richter-type drinking tests with each of three molar NaCl concentrations (.05 M, .15 M, and .30 M) versus water. Although the sodium-depleted animals did not lose weight, a dramatic alopecia obtained, suggesting an effective sodium deficiency. Correspondingly, the sodium-deficient gerbils demonstrated greater acceptance of, and consumed more, NaCl than the sodium-replete animals; and both these measures were concentration dependent. These results in light of previous work by the authors suggest that the gerbil is more behaviorally adaptive under conditions of gradually increasing sodium need than under the more precipitous requirements induced by adrenalectomy or formalin injections.     

The Effects of Experimentally Induced Rumination Versus Distraction on Analogue Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms

Rumination has been suggested to be an important factor maintaining posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Using an analogue design, this study aimed to experimentally test the hypothesis that trauma-related rumination maintains PTSD symptoms. Fifty-one participants were first asked to give a detailed narrative of a negative life event and were then randomly assigned to a rumination or distraction condition. In line with the hypotheses, rumination about the event resulted in the maintenance of negative mood and intrusive memories immediately after the manipulation whereas distraction resulted in symptom reduction. However, this effect was reversed during a subsequent symptom provocation task, in which distraction led to a greater increase in some of the symptoms than rumination. Results are in line with the idea that rumination is involved in the maintenance of PTSD but may suggest a complex relationship between rumination and posttraumatic stress symptoms.     

The Impact of Induced Stress Upon Selective Attention in Multiple Object Tracking

The ability to filter distracting information and selectively attend to relevant information is critical to effective performance on the battlefield. In addition to the cognitive processing burden imposed upon modern warfighters, the effects of stress upon cognition and action must also be accounted for in evaluating individual warfighting capabilities. The current study examines the relationship between stress and cognition by measuring performance on a multiple object tracking (MOT) task after exposure to stress-inducing photographs. Postexposure performance revealed significant decrements in MOT accuracy relative to a nonstressed control group. Implications are discussed regarding the impact of stress on attentional selection for operational scenarios where it is difficult to distinguish friendly individuals from those with hostile intentions, as well as for the development of technology for command, control, communications (computers), and intelligence (C4I) systems.     

Premotor and Motor Reaction Time as a Function of Preliminary Muscular Tension

Ss squeezed a hand grip device to 1 of 3 submaximal tensions, and reacted to either a light (Exp. I, N = 30) or to a buzzer (Exp. II, N = 24) by squeezing as quickly and forcefully as possible. Total RT was the time from stimulus to the change in tension, and this was divided into Premotor RT (stimulus to change in EMG) and Motor RT (change in EMG to change in tension) to determine the locus of changes in Total RT found by Clarke (1968). Whereas Total RT was unaffected by increased pre-tension, Premotor RT shortened and Motor RT lengthened. Partial programming or activation hypotheses were tenable for the Premotor RT changes, whereas changes in the contractile component, but not in the series elastic component, were tenable for the Motor RT changes.     

The Effect of Changes in the Temperature and Humidity of the Air on the Apparent Skin Resistance

The effects of affective expression on divergent thinking performance were studied in 40 male and female graduate education students. Divergent thinking was operationally defined in terms of the ideational fluency and originality dimensions of Guilford's (4) Plot Titles test. Experimental group E1, in which emotional states were related to visual stimuli, produced significantly more original responses than experimental group E2 (p < .025), in which the same visual patterns viewed in terms of their geometrical-technical dimensions, and control group C1 (p < .01), in which no training was administered. Groups E2 and C1 demonstrated no significant differences. The groups did not differ with respect to ideational fluency. Verbal ability was a poor predictor of individual differences in ideational fluency and originality. The results suggest an effective approach toward fostering originality and indicate that nonintellective variables may be significant in the creative process.     

The Personal/Group Discrimination Discrepancy: Responses to Experimentally Induced Personal and Group Discrimination

Abstract

Participants in research on discrimination consistently perceived a higher level of discrimination directed at their group as a whole than at themselves as individual members of that group. Explanations for this personal/group discrimination discrepancy are all based on the assumption that some form of perceptual distortion is operating. However, research has not allowed for any measure of the objective reality of people'S experiences with discrimination, and thus there has been no objective standard against which researchers can test for perceptual distortion. This study involved the experimental inducement of personal and group discrimination, alone and in combination, among female students. The results indicated that subjects responded to objective reality and that personal experiences with discrimination affected their perceptions at the group level more than the reverse.     

Effects of Local Muscular Fatigue Due to Isotonic and Isometric Exercise Upon Fractionated Reaction Time Components

Fractionated RT for a right knee-extension task was assessed on eight male and eight female Ss over eight treatment days. Following four consecutive days of 75 RT trials /day to insure stabilized strength and RT components, Ss were administered two days of bench stepping and two days of isometric exercise designed to induce muscular fatigue of the knee extensors. Significant strength decrements of up to 24% were induced by both the isotonic (bench stepping) and isometric exercise treatment conditions but no changes were observed in fractionated RT components. The results would seem to indicate that performance differences in fine-versus gross-motor skill tasks due to fatigue need to be more carefully examined.     

The Effect of Client Demeanor Upon the Verbal Responses of School Counselors

In a study of counselor verbal behavior as a function of client stimulus input, a counseling paradigm was employed using 4 client-actors and 30 counselors. Independent variables were hostile or friendly client behavior, amount of counseling experience, counselor sex and client sex. The dependent variable of counselor verbal behavior was measured by a revision of the Bales Interaction Process Analysis Categories. Analysis of variance led to the finding that all of the independent variables had a statistically significant effect upon the counselors' verbal responses, but the number of response categories affected varied from 1 to 7 depending on the variable involved. Significant interaction effects were also found. From the data, it was concluded that client demeanor and client sex significantly influenced counselors' verbal responses, but counselor experience and counselor sex were relatively unimportant in their effect upon the counselors' behavior.     

The Relation of the Morphological Index and Skin Resistance to Complex Psychological Traits

Abstract

(Porteus, Stanley D. The Porteus Maze Test and Intelligence. Palo Alto: Pacific Books, 1950. Pp. 194.) Reviewed by Gladycs C. Schwesinger.     

The Impact of Retirement Upon Religiosity

This longitudinal panel stud follows 51 industrial workers over a period of 6 years which g rackets the retirement event. Mean levels of belief and church attendance reveal extreme stability over time, whereas the frequency distribution of attendance indicates a polarization of behavior after retirement, with persons who had attended church once or twice a month reporting weekly or infre uent attendance in retirement. Belief in the supernatural and church attendance were more strongly related after retirement than before, suggesting a reduction in normative pressures on attendance. However, church attendance is much more stable across retirement than other outside-the-home activities. Correlational analysis suggests that there may be more individual change in religious belief and behavior in late adulthood than previously known.     

The Dependence of Welfare Upon Virtue

In this article, I articulate a modest form of welfare perfectionism, according to which (1) the virtuous person’s welfare is an aspect of her virtuous activity, and (2) the virtuous person will never be in position to choose to attain welfare at the expense of acting virtuously. I then defend these claims against a range of objections.     

Impact of Experimentally Induced Positive and Anxious Mood on Alcohol Expectancy Strength in Internally Motivated Drinkers

The effects of musically‐induced positive and anxious mood on explicit alcohol‐related cognitions (alcohol expectancy strength) in 47 undergraduate students who consume alcohol either to enhance positive mood states (for enhancement motives) or to cope with anxiety (for anxiety‐related coping motives) were investigated. Pre‐ and post‐mood induction, participants completed the emotional reward and emotional relief subscales of the Alcohol Craving Questionnaire – Now. The hypothesis that anxiety‐related coping motivated drinkers in the anxious mood condition (but not those in the positive mood condition) would exhibit increases in strength of explicit emotional relief alcohol expectancies after the mood induction was supported. An additional, unanticipated finding was that enhancement‐motivated drinkers in the anxious condition also showed significant increases in strength of explicit emotional relief (but not emotional reward) alcohol expectancies. The hypothesis that enhancement‐motivated (but not anxiety‐related coping motivated) participants would exhibit increases in explicit emotional reward expectancies following exposure to the positive mood induction procedure was not supported. Taken together with past research findings, the current results highlight the importance of distinguishing between subtypes of negative affect (i.e., anxious and depressed affect) in exploring the affective antecedents of explicit alcohol outcome expectancies.