The time course of attention in a simple auditory detection task

What is the time course of human attention in a simple auditory detection task? To investigate this question, we determined the detectability of a 20-msec, 1000-Hz tone presented at expected and unexpected times. Twelve listeners who expected the tone to occur at a specific time after a 300-msec narrowband noise rarely detected signals presented 150-375 msec before or 100-200 msec after that expected time. The shape of this temporal-attention window depended on the expected presentation time of the tone and the temporal markers available in the trials. Further, though expecting the signal to occur in silence, listeners often detected signals presented at unexpected times during the noise. Combined with previous data, these results further clarify the listening strategy humans use when trying to detect an expected sound: Humans seem to listen specifically for that sound, while ignoring the background in which it is presented, around the time when the sound is expected to occur.     

Knowledge and Attitudes Toward Infertility and Childless Couples

This study of 456 female and 205 male college students investigated knowledge and attitudes toward infertility and reactions to couples with varied fertility status. The gender and career status of the target individual also were varied. The most negative affect and stories were indicated for those described as childless by choice. The male target character also was rated more negatively than the female target character. The greatest responsibility and control were assigned to childless-by-choice and childless-no-explanation groups. The most positive affect and stories were indicated for those described as childless with no explanation given. Infertile couples were attributed less control and responsibility and elicited some degree of anger and hostility from others.     

The Effect of Honduran Counseling Practices on the North American Counseling Profession: The Power of Poverty

A team of researchers consisting of counselor education professors and doctoral‐level counseling students conducted interviews with Honduran mental health professionals, including counselors, psychologists, pastors, community developmental specialists, and psychiatrists. The purpose was to understand the counseling process and profession that exists in a developing economy. The results are focused on the pervasive effects of poverty on the profession, the training of counselors, and the nature of counseling interventions.     

Cigarette Smoking, Physical Activity, and the Health Status of College Students

Research has supported a negative correlation between cigarette smoking and exercise; however, the temporal nature of this association is not obvious. We modeled the relationships among smoking, exercise, and self-perceived health over time, within a college population. We collected 5 waves of data from 1,023 undergraduate students over a 14-month period. The results verified that smoking and exercise each made independent contributions in the prediction of health. Smoking was associated with reduced exercise over time, while no evidence was found for the reverse relationship. Our final mediation model demonstrates that smoking is related to poorer self-perceived health, and that this effect is partially mediated by the fact that smokers are less likely to engage in exercise.     

2020 New World Order

This paper proposes that as the nation move toward the 2020 election, civil harmony might be possible with an ideological shift. Using the words of writer Sylvia Wynter in her work, “ 1492: New World View” who suggest that although this country was structured with domination and subjugation from its inception, this nation could be reimagined to embrace diverse people co-existing. Understanding too that reconciliation must be defined by those who are marginalized, the author using an Afro-futuristic ideology for a 2020 New World Order suggest that the Black Lives Matter movement could carry the torch.     

Predicting aggressive patterns in girls and boys: A developmental study

The aim of this multimethod, longitudinal study was to examine similarities and differences in aggressive expression and prediction among school-aged boys and girls. The primary research sample involved 174 children (93 females, 81 males). They were in the fourth grade at the beginning of the study, and the fifth grade at its conclusion. Embedded in the primary sample was a subgroup of 20 children identified as being highly aggressive (ten males, ten females), and a subgroup of 20 matched control children. The research measures included teachers' ratings of aggressive behavior, peer-nominations/reports of prior conflicts, individual interviews/self-ratings, and extensive behavioral observations. Analyses of the concurrent relations among measures pointed to a “public” cluster of measures (including peer-nominations, behaviors, and teacher ratings) and relatively “private” measures (ie, subjects' self-evaluations). In the primary sample, significant developmental trends were detected in the teacher ratings with increasing gender differentiation as children grew older. Few gender differences were observed in the high-aggressive subgroup, but the aggressive and the matched control groups differed on virtually all comparisons. Gender differences in predictability were a function of risk status, with high-aggressive girls showing as much stability as high-aggressive boys.     

An Analysis of the Convergent and Discriminant Validity of the Transformational Leadership Questionnaire

This article sets out to provide evidence of the convergent and discriminant validity of a recently developed leadership questionnaire to support the assessment and development of leadership in organizations, the Transformational Leadership Questionnaire (TLQ). The TLQ was developed on the basis of eliciting constructs of leadership from managers working at different levels (executive, top, senior, middle) in two large parts of the UK public sector, using a Grounded Theory approach. Evidence is presented that eight scales which measure different aspects of transformational leadership are significantly correlated with each of five criterion variables, even when the instrument is used in a public sector different from the one in which it was developed. Discriminant analysis indicated, however, that the relationship between the scales and the criterion variables is not consistent for the different groups and sub-groups of managers, divided by level, by sex, and by level x sex. These latter data were interpreted, in the light of the ‘range of convenience’ corollary of Kelly's Personal Construct Theory, and of the concept of ‘substitutes for leadership’, as evidence that certain TLQ scales have particular relevance to certain groups and sub-groups of managers, and thus of the discriminant validity of the instrument, and further evidence of its construct validity.     

Reviews: Books and Films

TO REDEEM ONE PERSON IS TO REDEEM THE WORLD: THE LIFE OF FRIEDA FROMM-REICHMANN. By Gail A. Hornstein. 390 pp. New York: The Free Press, 2000. $35. THE GUIDE TO PASTORAL COUNSELING AND CARE. Edited by Gary Ahlskog and Harry Sands. 415 pp. Madison, CT: International Universities Press and Psychosocial Press, 2000. $60. THE ART OF DYING: A JUNGIAN VIEW OF PATIENTS' DRAWINGS. By Yvonne Barnhouse Williams. 209 pp. Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas, 1999. $24.95. LITTLE SAINT. By Hannah Green. New York: Random House, 2000. $25.95. BODY AND SOUL: HUMAN NATURE AND THE CRISIS IN ETHICS. By J.P. Moreland and Scott B. Rae. 350 pp. InterVarsity Press, 2000. $22.99. MUHAMMAD AND THE RISE OF ISLAM: THE CREATION OF GROUP IDENTITY. By Subhash C. Inamdar, M.D. 266 pp. Madison, Ct: International Universities Press and Psychosocial Press, 2001. $40. MANAGING MANAGED CARE: SECRETS FROM A FORMER CASE MANAGER. By Susan Frager. 276 pp. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 2000. $45. THE DISABLED GOD: TOWARD A LIBERATORY THEOLOGY OF DISABILITY. By Nancy L. Eiesland. 139 pp. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1994. $15. A LIFE COMPLETE. By Sallierae Henderson. 222 pp. New York: Scribner, 2000. $24. BIOENGAGEMENT: MAKING A CHRISTIAN DIFFERENCE IN BIOETHICS TODAY. Edited by Nigel Cameron, Scott Daniel and Barbara White. 265 pp. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm.B.Eerdmans, 2000. $22. CALLED INTO HEALING: RECLAIMING OUR JUDEO-CHRISTIAN LEGACY OF HEALING TOUCH. By Linda L. Smith. 244 pp. Arvada, CO: HTSM Press, 2000. $22.95. SURVEYING THE RELIGIOUS LANDSCAPE: TRENDS IN U.S. BELIEFS. By George Gallup, Jr. and D. Michael Lindsay. 171 pp. Harrisburg, PA: Morehouse Publishing, 1999. $17.95. The Straight Story. Snow Falling On Cedars     

Associations among perceptions of social support, negative affect, and quality of sleep in caregivers and noncaregivers.

The authors used structural equation modeling to examine associations among perceptions of negative affect, social support, and quality of sleep in a sample of caregivers (n = 175) and noncaregiver control participants (n = 169). The authors hypothesized that caregiver status would be related to sleep quality directly and also indirectly by way of negative affect and social support. This hypothesis was partially supported in that caregiving was found to be indirectly related to sleep quality. However, after accounting for the indirect effects of negative affect and social support, the direct effect of caregiving on sleep quality was no longer statistically significant. The structural model accounted for approximately 43% of the variance in sleep quality. The present findings may be useful in the development of successful sleep interventions for caregivers.