Labeling: The relationship between certain personal characteristics and some attribution processes

Ideas proposed by labeling theorists in criminology have been the focus of considerable controversy. However, these ideas have often not been systematically formulated and tested. In order to go beyond “sensitizing concepts,” it is necessary to restate the basic propositions in testable terms. In this paper, labeling and attribution perspectives were combined and labeling hypotheses were derived from attribution theory. These hypotheses were tested on a population of institutionalized juveniles in Washington State correctional facilities. We were interested in whether the age, sex, or race of a child activates stereotypes and biases staff attributions about the child. The results suggest that these characteristics do not affect certain staff perceptions of the child.     

The relationship between personal philosophy and effectiveness in counsellors

This study investigates the relationship between the effectiveness of counsellors and their personal philosophy, beliefs and attitudes. There is a review of the relevant literature concerning the qualities and attributes of effective counsellors, with a detailed examination of studies of counsellor philosophy. Two groups (n = 14 and n = 19) of counsellors on training courses were studied. Each participant wrote an account of a ‘Helping Relationship Incident’ which was rated on the 12 dimensions of counsellor ‘perceptual organization’ developed by Combs & Soper (1963). Course tutors gave ratings of the counselling effectiveness of their students. Rank order correlations between judgements of counsellor effectiveness and ratings of perceptual organization/philosophy were made. In both groups statistically significant results were found, adding weight to the hypothesis that a ‘person-centred’ perceptual organization or belief system is an important factor in counsellor effectiveness. The implications for counsellor selection and training are discussed, and suggestions are made for further research on this topic.     

The relationship between executive function and verbal memory in Parkinson's disease

A growing body of evidence suggests that the various cognitive symptoms found in Parkinson's disease (PD) are secondary to executive dysfunction. Studies addressing this possibility for memory impairment specifically have not included measures of working memory nor have they ruled-out potential mediating variables such as overall level of cognitive impairment or depression. The purpose of this study was to include measures of these variables in determining the relationship between multiple aspects of executive function and delayed verbal recall in 32 idiopathic PD patients. Results were consistent with the original hypothesis and further suggest that working memory is a key factor in recall memory and may mediate the relationship between other executive measures and recall in PD.     

The relationship between executive functions,episodic feeling-of-knowing and confidence judgements

Metamemory processes and executive control may be related, given that both are frontally mediated. However, previous behavioural research has been limited in identifying common processes driving this somewhat weak relationship partly because they mostly relied upon global executive measures and composite scores of executive function (EF). The present study investigated the relationship between specific EFs (task shifting, interference resolution), working memory capacity and feeling-of-knowing (FOK) and confidence judgements (CONF) in an episodic memory task. We found that, of the EFs, only task-switching performance was correlated with FOK accuracy and proposed a shared mechanism that may be at play in both task-switching and FOK judgements. We also demonstrated that interference resolution and episodic memory measures were related, suggesting strategic influences on memory retrieval. Finally, we found a strong consistency in the strength and accuracy of FOK and CONF judgements, possibly due to retrieval-based mechanisms in both types of judgements.     

The relationship between formal thought disorder and executive functioning component processes

In 2 studies, associations between formal thought disorder (FTD) and 2 components of executive functioning, processing of context and interference resolution, were investigated. One study, involving people with schizophrenia, examined associations between performance on processing of context (N-back) and interference resolution (interference in Steinberg probe recognition) tasks and FTD. The second study, involving nonpsychiatric participants, was an analogue study that examined the effects of simulated processing of context (performance of 1-back with distraction) and interference resolution (telling new stories about previously seen pictures) deficits on FTD in a speech production task. In both studies, processing of context deficits predicted FTD. Moreover, in both studies, the effect of processing of context deficits on FTD was especially pronounced when combined with interference resolution deficits.     

The relationship between self-concept and selected academic and personal factors

One-hundred sixty-five high school students were the subjects in a study to determine if selected personal and academic variables were predictive of self-concept scores. The full model was moderately predictive of self-esteem, accounting for approximately 46% of the variance of the criterion variable. Also, it was found that, as a subset of variables, both academic and personal variables made a significant, unique contribution to the prediction of self-concept scores. Of the eleven independent variables used in this study, it was noted that grade point average, extracurricular activities, health, and home life individually made a unique contribution to the prediction of self-concept scores. These four variables also were found to be significantly correlated with self-concept. Other independent variables found to be significantly correlated with self-concept were: parents married and parents divorced. However, these variables were not considered as making a unique contribution to the prediction of self-concept.     

The relationship between sex-role identity and beliefs in personal control

Three hundred and ten college undergraduate students completed the Bem Sex-Role Inventory and Rotter's Internal-External Scale measuring locus of control. Males were significantly more internal than females. Both males and females who had high same-sex scale scores were significantly more internal than those with low same-sex scale scores. That is, males who were masculine or androgynous and females who were feminine or androgynous reported greater internal locus of control beliefs than did those males who were feminine or undifferentiated and those females who were masculine or undifferentiated. It was suggested that these findings result from different styles of power typically associated with sex-role stereotypes.     

The personal and professional development of the counsellor: The relationship between personal philosophy and theoretical orientation

This paper examines the relationship between visions of reality held by counsellors and their professed theoretical orientations. It is suggested that there exist a number of states of congruence between the tow variables and that there are potential problems when the two are not in harmony. The implications for the training and continued professional development of counsellors are explored. Finally, Some provesional findings are offered from the authors' own research.     

The moderating roles of personal and social resources on the relationship between dual expectations (for instrumentality and expressiveness) and well-being

The authors examined the roles of self-esteem and perceived social support in moderating the relationship between dual social expectations (instrumentality and expressivity) and well-being. Participants were 166 female and 87 male students in an urban community in the midwestern United States. After the authors controlled for the main effects of instrumental and expressive expectations, social support, as predicted, moderated the relationship between dual expectations and well-being: With higher levels of social support, higher levels of dual expectations were associated with higher levels of well-being; with lower levels of social support, higher levels of dual expectations were associated with lower levels of well-being. Contrary to predictions, however, self-esteem did not moderate the relation between dual expectations and well-being. The discussion focuses on the importance of social resources in enhancing the potential benefits of dual expectations in interpersonal contexts.     

The relationship between STD locus of control and STD acquisition among adolescent girls

This longitudinal study examined adolescent girls' perception of control over sexually transmitted disease (STD) acquisition. Participants were asked questions regarding their perception of their STD locus of control (internal control; control by parents, partners, peers, and health care providers; and chance) at two waves of data collection. Of the 116 participants (mean age = 17 years), 82% were African-American and 18% were Caucasian. Responses to the measure of locus of control were significantly correlated across a 6-month interval. The responses regarding internal control, control by partner, and chance were not related to the acquisition of an STD in the next 6 months. Further, they were not influenced by an STD in the preceding 6 months. These results indicate that responses to a locus of control measure were stable over a 6-month period, and internal, partner, and chance locus of control perceptions seem to be neither determined by STD experience nor directly related to future STD acquisition. However, understanding an individual's locus of control may be helpful in providing appropriate counseling. Future research could examine how adolescent girls form their perceptions of control over STD acquisition.     

The relationship between inflated personal responsibility and exaggerated danger expectancies in obsessive-compulsive concerns

The association between responsibility for a negative outcome, perceived severity of the outcome and perceived likelihood of the outcome was examined in a sample of 70 undergraduate students. Participants were asked to rate the likelihood and severity of 10 negative outcomes, five related to contamination and five related to checking. Thirty-eight participants completed a version of the questionnaire that presented the subject as responsible for the action that may lead to a negative outcome ('personally responsible' group). The remaining 32 completed a version of the questionnaire that presented someone else performing the actions that may lead to a negative outcome ('other responsible' group). Significant differences emerged between the personally responsible and other responsible groups for severity of outcome ratings but not for likelihood of outcome ratings. Specifically, for both washing and checking concerns, participants in the personally responsible group rated the severity of the potential negative outcome as greater than did those in the other responsible group. The results support the claimed general tendency for individuals to regard an outcome as more aversive if they are personally responsible for that outcome, rather than someone else being responsible. The results suggest that, in general, increasing perceptions of personal responsibility will increase cost or severity estimates in subjective danger calculations, and that responsibility may influence OCD phenomena in this way. Finally, the results suggest that attempts to manipulate responsibility in the laboratory may be confounded by necessarily impacting on cost estimates, and therefore on danger expectancies.     

The relationship between interests-job incongruity and selection of avocational activity

The present paper presents two independent studies (n₁ = 240, n₂ = 66, respectively) conducted in two different countries, and which were designed to investigate the function of leisure activities for people with varying degrees of vocational congruence. The results of the studies showed similar trends and thus, provided a cross validation to the findings. Following S. Parker (The future of work and leisure. New York, Praeger, 1971), a distinction was made between extension compensation, and neutral functions for avocational activity choice, with corresponding inventories measuring each of them. Little more than a third of the people reported their leisure activities to be neutral avocations pursued for relaxation and tension release. Taken together, the results show the following trends: (1) people tend to select leisure activities congruent with their personality pattern; (2) people in congruent occupations were vocationally satisfied and conceived their preferred activities as an extension of the type of activities they do at work; (3) people in incongruent occupations are vocationally dissatisfied, and compensate for this by selecting compensatory leisure activities and they tend to show higher salience for their avocational activities. The distinction amongst the various leisure activity functions seems to be crucial for further research in selection of avocational activities; this may prove useful in counseling people to choose an appropriate leisure activity. It may especially benefit those in incongruent occupations.     

The Lexical Stroop Sort (LSS) picture-word task: a computerized task for assessing the relationship between language and executive functioning in school-aged children

The relationship between language development and executive function (EF) in children is not well understood. The Lexical Stroop Sort (LSS) task is a computerized EF task created for the purpose of examining the relationship between school-aged children’s oral language development and EF. To validate this new measure, a diverse sample of school-aged children completed standardized oral language assessments, the LSS task, and the widely used Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS; Zelazo, 2006) task. Both EF tasks require children to sort stimuli into categories based on predetermined rules. While the DCCS largely relies on visual stimuli, the LSS employs children’s phonological loop to access their semantic knowledge base. Accuracy and reaction times were recorded for both tasks. Children’s scores on the LSS task were correlated with their scores on the DCCS task, and a similar pattern of relationships emerged between children’s vocabulary and the two EF tasks, thus providing convergent validity for the LSS. However, children’s phonological awareness was associated with their scores on the LSS, but not with those on the DCCS. In addition, a mediation model was used to elucidate the predictive relationship between phonological awareness and children’s performance on the LSS task, with children’s vocabulary fully mediating this relationship. The use of this newly created and validated LSS task with different populations, such as preschoolers and bilinguals, is also discussed.     

The relationship between personal authority in the family system and discovery of meaning in life

This study investigated the relationship between intergenerational family relationships and Frankl's concept of meaning in life. Intergenerational family relationships were measured by the Personal Authority in the Family System Questionnaire (PAFS-QE) by Bray, Williamson, and Malone. The meaning in life variables were measured by the Life Attitude Profile-Revised (LAP-R) by Reker. This quantitative study, using the BMDP Statistical Package (Dixon, 1990), correlated the scores on various subscales from both instruments, resulting in seven statistically significant relationships. The findings, although modest, suggest the existence of a relationship between these two theoretical areas.This article is based in part on the first author's doctoral dissertation at Texas Woman's University.A copy of the PAFS-Q may be obtained from: James H. Bray, PhD, 5510 Greenbriar, Houston, TX 77005. A copy of the LAP-R may be obtained from: Gary Reker, PhD, Trent University, Psychology Department, Peterborough, Ontario Canada K9J 7B8.