Where is the facilitation of media violence: The effects of nonexposure and placement of anger arousal

The present study examined the conditions under which media violence would “facilitate” aggression in angered individuals. It was noted that previous research has lacked support for facilitation due to improper control groups. It was predicted, based upon evidence that aggressive and neutral films are capable of both arousing a subject and shifting his attention away from previous anger instigation (attentional shift), that only under a condition where an aggressive film is viewed prior to anger arousal will increased aggression occur if compared to a no-film control. It was found that when subjects were angered prior to film exposure, netural films reduced aggression, with aggressive films not differing from a no-film control. Under subsequent anger arousal, however, there was a facilitation for aggressive film exposure. The implication of this, and other recent media violence studies, for past and future research in the area of media violence and aggression is discussed.     

Conjunctive schedules of reinforcement: III. A fixed-interval adjusting fixed-ratio schedule

Key pecking of three pigeons was studied under a conjunctive schedule that specified both a fixed-interval and an adjusting fixed-ratio requirement. The fixed-interval schedule was 6 min for one pigeon and 3 min for the other two. The size of the ratio requirement was determined within each cycle of the fixed interval by the duration of the pause before responding began. The fixed-ratio value was at maximum at the start of each fixed interval and decreased linearly until the first response occurred (adjusting fixed-ratio schedule). A peck produced food when the number of responses remaining on the fixed-ratio schedule was completed and when the fixed interval had elapsed. If no response occurred during the interval, the fixed-ratio requirement decreased to one and a single response after the interval elapsed produced food. The initial value of the adjusting fixed-ratio schedule was studied over a range of 0 to 900. Increases in the adjusting fixed-ratio schedule to about 300 responses increased both pause duration and running response rate and also modified the pattern of responding from that obtained under the fixed-interval schedule. Higher values of the adjusting fixed ratio generally decreased pause duration and running response rate and also disrupted responding. Interreinforcement time under the conjunctive schedule was increased substantially when the adjusting fixed-ratio size exceeded 300 responses.     

Ego development, authoritarianism, and social status: an investigation of the incremental validity of Loevinger's sentence completion test (short form)

This study presents two sets of analyses designed to evaluate the relation between a 12-item form of the Washington University Sentence Completion Test of ego development (Short Form; SCT-S) and socioeconomic status (SES). The subjects were a large national random sample of adolescent and young adult men and women who were stratified into three artificial age cohorts. The first set of hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated that SES accounted for 8% to 13% of the variance in SCT-S scores. Incremental validity of the SCT-S in predicting social attitudes, beyond that predicted by SES, was generally supported for authoritarian aggression and partially supported in predicting masculine sex role expectations. Findings suggest that research on ego development with subjects over age 18 might use level of education as a rough index of SES. For younger subjects, parental factors and education are both important. This study also provides revised age-specific national norms for the SCT-S.     

Performance and motivational deficits of helplessness: the role of motivational orientations

The present study examined the hypothesis that the effect of failure feedback in producing learned helplessness would depend on the motivational orientation of a child. Extrinsically motivated children were predicted to exhibit performance decrement following a failure experience, whereas the opposite was predicted for intrinsically motivated children. In addition, success feedback was predicted to enhance subsequent performance only for the intrinsic group. Following success, failure, or no feedback on an activity reflecting spatial skills (an incomplete picture task), subjects' performance on an activity tapping different skills (i.e., anagrams) provided by a second experimenter served as the primary measure of helplessness. Subjects' intrinsic motivation in performing the incomplete picture task, a similar task (embedded figures) and a dissimilar task (dots-to-dots) was also examined. The results supported the predictions on both performance and intrinsic motivation measures. The results are discussed in terms of implications for learned helplessness as well as cognitive evaluation theories.     

Identity Development and Integration of Religious Identities in Gender and Sexual Minority Emerging Adults

Gender and sexual minority (GSM) individuals have been neglected in emerging adulthood research. Further research is needed to understand the seemingly contradictory religious and GSM identities of emerging adults. This study looks at the associations of identity development and identity integration with religious and GSM group activities and well‐being. Identity visibility (outness) is associated with increases in GSM group activity and well‐being. Religious group activity is also associated with increases in well‐being. Religious group activity mediates the relationship between identity integration and well‐being. Implications for practitioners working with GSM individuals dealing with issues of identity integration are discussed.