The rights of research assistants and the rhetoric of political suppression: Morton Grodzins and the University of California Japanese-American Evacuation and Resettlement Study

This case study of an inter-university controversy over the publication of research from an interdisciplinary social science project on the forced migration and long-term internment of West Coast Japanese-Americans during World War II shows some of the difficulties of maintaining ownership of research materials. In this particular instance the junior employee was able to override his seniors' demand for control of the dissemination of research results by playing on the concerns about even appearing to suppress work for political reasons. The paper discusses conflicting norms of science and rhetorics of justification ranging from proprietary self-interest through "good science" to "the national interest" and onto "the needs of a free society."     

Changes in mood caused by staged, moderate physical activity]

This experiment provides a test for the common sense knowledge that moderate physical exercise leads to mood improvement. Furthermore, it was tested whether light exercise intensifies negative feeling states or alleviates them. 30 female and 30 male students of psychology served as subjects (mean age 25.3 years, SD = 4.8). After being exposed to a mood induction procedure designed to elicit either a positive or negative feeling state, the subjects had to pedal a bicycle ergometer with 0, 50 or 75 Watt load. Cardiovascular variables and self-reports of mood states were assessed during a baseline period, after the mood induction, following the ergometer exercise, and after a follow-up period. The mood induction procedures were successful, but only for a short duration. Physiological activation was observed according to the ergometer loadings. Moderate physical exercise led to an increase of positive feeling states (Concentration) and a decrease of negative feeling states (Tiredness) in the follow-up period. Corresponding changes in tension related states could not be observed, probably due to the weakness of the mood induction procedure employed and the low level of energetic activation reached.     

From the desk of the IFA president : International fluency association priorities: A poll of potential members

Potential members of the International Fluency Association (IFA) were polled regarding their fluency interests and perceived priorities for the organization during the year it was founded (in 1990). Results from 201 respondents indicated that a need for the IFA existed among researchers, clinicians, and representatives of self-help organizations for people who stutter. Improving the quality of treatment for those who stutter was considered the highest priority by all three groups. Researchers were of the opinion that the Journal of Fluency Disorders should be of higher quality than it had been in the past, and clinicians were most interested in reviews of new and relevant materials.     

The fear potentiated startle effect

A differential conditioning study examined whether an acoustic startle probe, presented during extinction of an aversively conditioned visual stimulus, potentiated the reflex eyeblink response in humans and whether this potentiation varied with the change in affective valence of the conditioned stimulus. Sixty college students were randomly assigned to view a series of two slides, depicting either unpleasant/highly arousing, unpleasant/moderate arousing, neutral/calm, pleasant/moderate arousing or pleasant/highly arousing scenes and objects (duration: 8 sec). During preconditioning (8 trials) and extinction (24 trials) acoustic startle probes (white noise bursts [50 ms; 95 dBA] were administered during and between slide presentation). During acquisition (16 trials) CS+ was reinforced by an electric shock. Startle response magnitudes significantly increased from preconditioning to extinction and were substantially larger to CS+. Conditioned startle reflex augmentation linearly increased with the pleasantness of the slides. Furthermore, subjects showed a greater post-conditioning increase of judged aversiveness to slides that they had previously reported to be more pleasant, exactly paralleling the startle reflex results.

     

Serial learning in the pigeon.

Three pigeons learned to peck four colors in a particular sequence, regardless of how these colors were positioned on four response keys and without feedback following each response. This demonstrates that serial learning is possible in subprimate animals.     

"EVERYMAN'S ONTOLOGICAL ARGUMENT": A DISSIDENT VERSION

We must agree, I think, with Frank Ebersole that there is something preposterous in supposing that the God of religious belief, the God who handed down tablets to Moses on Mt. Sinai, etc., should be proven to exist by the ontological argument. Indeed, when we place the one, the ontological argument, by the side of the other, the God of religious belief, there seems hardly to be any connection between them. But if we agree to this perception of things, what sense can we make of the ontological argument, for example, the “pull” that it sometimes exerts on us?     

The use of teachers as behavioral observers

The effect of using teachers as behavioral observers on both student and teacher behavior was examined with eight teachers and 32 elementary school children. The frequency of prompts (but not praise or criticism) to those students observed by the teacher increased significantly from nonobserver to teacher observed experimental phases. In addition, students observed by the teacher showed more change in appropriate behavior than students who were not observed. The significance of these findings for research and therapy is discussed.     

Male and Female Preferences in Selected Career Factors

This study investigated seven factors relating to personal preferences in choosing a career. Differences between male and female preferences were also studied. While males and females express similarities relating to the seven factors, they also reveal differences that should be considered by counselors helping individuals explore career choices.