Intrinsic-Extrinsic Religiosity and University Students' Willingness to Donate Organs Posthumously

This research focuses on the links between intrinsic and extrinsic religious orientations as they relate to willingness to donate organs posthumously. Participants responded to a factual test of their knowledge about organ donation, indicated their degree of willingness to donate organs, and filled out personality inventories measuring their intrinsic and extrinsic orientations. The data indicated a high level of factual knowledge about organ donation. Also, contrary to Allport's (1966) arguments, people with an intrinsic religious orientation were not more likely to donate their organs, nor were people with an extrinsic religious orientation less likely to do so. Instead, it was found that intrinsic religiosity was unrelated to willingness to donate organs and that extrinsics with strong social orientations were more willing to donate their organs. Discussion centers on the need to develop more psy-chometrically sound measures of mature religiosity as a means of conducting a fairer test of Allport's original theorizing about intrinsic religiosity.     

The Berkeley Civic Courage and Heroism Experiment: The Group Dynamics of Individuals Acting in Concert to Advance Ethical Goals in the Public Interest

Many studies have investigated how to get individuals to obey external authority, as noted in the obedience experiments (Miller, 1986). But next to none have investigated how individuals obey their conscience as they act as members of a group committed to taking nonviolent courageous action in the defense of ethical principles and the public interest. The present study investigates the situational group context and group dynamics that allow individuals to act in concert with others to carry out ethical goals, even at personal cost to themselves.     

Fighting and Flying: Archival Analysis of Threat, Authoritarianism, and the North American Comic Book

In this archival study, themes of authoritarianism ( Adorno, Frenkel-Brunswik, Levinson, & Sanford, 1950 ) were content coded in American comic books. Comic books produced during years of relatively high social and economic threat (1978–82 and 1991–92) contained more aggressive imagery, more conventional themes, less intraception, and fewer spoken lines by women characters relative to comic books produced during years of relatively low threat (1983–90). Unexpectedly, speaking roles for characters of color did not differ due to the influence of threat. Discussion focused on the theoretical relationship between threat and manifestations of authoritarianism at the societal and individual levels.     

Self-regulation and recall: growth curve modeling of intervention outcomes for older adults

Memory training has often been supported as a potential means to improve performance for older adults. Less often studied are the characteristics of trainees that benefit most from training. Using a self-regulatory perspective, the current project examined a latent growth curve model to predict training-related gains for middle-aged and older adult trainees from individual differences (e.g., education), information processing skills (strategy use) and self-regulatory factors such as self-efficacy, control, and active engagement in training. For name recall, a model including strategy usage and strategy change as predictors of memory gain, along with self-efficacy and self-efficacy change, showed comparable fit to a more parsimonious model including only self-efficacy variables as predictors. The best fit to the text recall data was a model focusing on self-efficacy change as the main predictor of memory change, and that model showed significantly better fit than a model also including strategy usage variables as predictors. In these models, overall performance was significantly predicted by age and memory self-efficacy, and subsequent training-related gains in performance were best predicted directly by change in self-efficacy (text recall), or indirectly through the impact of active engagement and self-efficacy on gains (name recall). These results underscore the benefits of targeting self-regulatory factors in intervention programs designed to improve memory skills.     

An intervention that increases parental sensitivity in families referred to Child Protective Services also changes toddlers’ parasympathetic regulation

Experiencing maltreatment in early childhood predicts poor parasympathetic regulation, characterized by low baseline parasympathetic activity and strong withdrawal of parasympathetic influence in response to tasks. The Promoting First Relationships^® (PFR) program improves parental sensitivity toward young children in families identified as maltreating. Using a subsample from a randomized control trial, we examined whether parental participation in PFR had lasting effects on toddlers’ parasympathetic regulation, as measured by respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), relative to a resource and referral control condition. In addition, we examined whether parental sensitive and responsive behavior mediated or moderated associations between parent treatment group and children's RSA. More than 6 months after completing treatment, 29 families in the PFR condition and 30 families in the control condition were visited at home, and toddlers’ RSA was assessed at baseline and during five moderately challenging tasks. Groups did not differ in baseline RSA, but differed in RSA reactivity to the tasks. Across tasks, toddlers of parents in the control condition manifested significantly larger RSA decreases than toddlers of parents in the PFR condition. Parental behavior showed divergent associations with RSA change for toddlers of parents in the PFR versus control condition, with PFR treatment predicting RSA change ranging from small decreases to increases in toddlers of parents who showed the most sensitive, responsive behavior in the 6 months following treatment. This preliminary study showed that the same intervention that improved parenting also improved toddlers’ parasympathetic regulation in response to everyday activities, warranting further experimental investigation.     

Complainant Sexual History Evidence: Its Impact On Mock Jurors' Decisions

The current study examined the impact of complainant sexual history evidence on mock jurors' judgements in a sexual assault trial. One hundred and sixty–nine undergraduates listened to an audiotape of a sexual assault trial in which the sexual history between the complainant and defendant was systematically varied to include either sexual intercourse, kissing and petting, or no history information. The effectiveness of judicial limiting instructions that accompany the introduction of sexual history evidence at trial was also examined. Compared to the control condition, those who heard evidence involving prior sexual intercourse between the complainant and defendant were less likely to find the complainant credible, more likely to find her blameworthy, and more likely to believe she consented. The information failed, however, to influence participants' judgements about the defendant's belief in consent. As well, the presence of limiting instructions did little to curb the prejudicial influence of this information.     

The school psychologist in a non-school setting

School psychologists may be found in non-school settings which allow them to use training and experience gained in a school psychology doctoral program. This article briefly describes one such setting and emphasizes the need in multidisciplinary clinics for more psychologists with this training, since it enables them to make unique contributions to education, interdisciplinary communication, clinical diagnoses, and research. Children's clinics need a person who is knowledgeable in both education and psychology and who is trained to work effectively with other disciplines.