TRANSFER TRAINING METHOD: ITS INFLUENCE ON SKILL GENERALIZATION, SKILL REPETITION, AND PERFORMANCE LEVEL

This study contrasted goal setting and self-management training designs for their effectiveness in facilitating transfer of training to a novel task. Behavioral measures of performance were used to assess transfer in terms of skill generalization, skill repetition and overall performance level. Skill generalization was more limited among the goal-setting trainees as compared to the self-management trainees. While goal-setting trainees generalized fewer skills to the novel task context, these skills tended to be used more repeatedly. In contrast, self-management trainees exhibited higher rates of skill generalization and higher overall performance levels on the transfer task, even after the effects of outcome goal level were controlled. Implications are discussed for future research on training transfer.     

Semantic activation due to synonym, antonym, and rhyme production

Semantic activation due to priming, and the time course of its dissipation, were examined. Following a word presentation, the subject performed one of three tasks: synonym, antonym, or rhyme production. The first presentation of a word together with the task was the primer. The second presentation of the same word occurred after 0 to 4 intervening words. Effects of priming were looked for in the speed of the first response to the second presentation of the word. A production facilitation occurred when synonym production was primed by antonym production to the same word, the primed word immediately following the primer. Facilitation decreased with increasing number of interpolated tasks. No effect was found when antonym production was primed by synonym production to the same word. The results are discussed in terms of spreading-activation due to active use of the associative link between the concept and its antonyms.     

Interactive effects of noise and neuroticism on recall from semantic memory

Subjects recalled names of countries during 8 or 5 min. (Experiments 1 and 2) or performed a set of brief (40 sec) tasks recalling items from semantic or factual memory (Experiment 3), either in silence or in intermittent white noise (95 dB (A)). Noise interfered consistently with the performance of "neurotic" subjects (i.e., subjects scoring above the median on the EPI scale of neuroticism) but had little effect on that of "stable" ones. Performance was not significantly related to extraversion, nor to self-rated activation, and it was uncorrelated with neuroticism in the no-noise condition. An interpretation of the results emphasizing the distracting effects of noise is discussed.     

Sexuality and birth control: impact of outreach programming

If there is a safe place to be on campus, it is the counselor's office. No one except the client knows what is happening, and no one can be criticized for providing help to someone in need—unless, that is, one has a vision that problems are better prevented than solved. Outreach programming attempts to do just that: prevent problems from occurring. In a bold educational effort, Johnston assisted the health center and the counseling center at the University of Maine in cooperatively creating a campuswide sex education program that included seminars, appropriate physical examinations, and personal peer counseling. The program includes an evaluation component that has provided continuous data to be used for program reconstruction.     

Children's Responses to Conflicting Auditory and Visual Features of a Televised Narrative

Children at three age levels (5–6, 8–9, and 10–12 years) were exposed to a televised story in which the auditory and visual content conflicted at the semantic level: a character was depicted as behaving kindly in one channel and cruelly in the other. Comparison groups were exposed to audio-only and video-only versions of the program. It was found that awareness of the auditory-visual discrepancy, assessed at the end of the testing session, increased with age. On a recognition memory test, the presence of conflicting video significantly reduced recognition of the audio content among children in the two older groups, but not among those in the youngest group. This pattern did not emerge for recognition of video content. However, the tendency to interpret video depictions in terms of the inconsistent audio information increased with age. On a measure of free recall, mention of the content of both channels, rather than only one channel, also increased with age. Finally, for all three age groups, personality ratings of the central character were less extreme among respondents exposed to the mismatch version of the program than among those exposed to the audio-only or video-only versions (in which the character exhibited only one type of behavior). Overall, the results were interpreted as indicating a developmental increase in utilization of the semantic content of both channels to form a unified representation of the events in the narrative. However, evaluations of the character's personality suggest that children at all three age levels integrated the content of both channels to some degree.     

Forewarning of a Threat and Prior Knowledge of Outcome Effects on Children's Emotional Responses to a Film Sequence

An experiment examined the influence of prior information on children's emotional responses to a frightening program. Children at two age levels (5–7 and 9–11 years) viewed a program that included a threatening scene and a happy resolution. Before viewing, they heard one of four audiotaped introductions created by factorially varying information about the threat (forewarning, no forewarning) and the happy outcome (prior knowledge, no prior knowledge). Emotional responses were assessed through self-reports, facial expressions (coded using hard's Affex coding scheme), and skin temperature (as an index of physiological arousal). Self-reports of emotion revealed that forewarning of the threat increased anticipatory fear but did not affect emotional responses to the threatening scene. Prior knowledge of the happy outcome tended to reduce anticipatory fear but had a somewhat inconsistent effect on fear during the threatening scene. Changes in skin temperature over time were consistent with predictions, but no effects of the manipulations emerged for facial expressions of negative affect. Expected age differences were not observed for either type of prior information. Responses to the happy outcome were also examined. Children's reports of coping strategies and the results of manipulation checks were considered in interpreting the findings.     

European Managers’Interpretations of Participation

This study explores cultural variations in managers’interpretations of a key communicative process: worker participation. Semantic patterns derived from structural analyses indicate cultural differences in the meanings that managers attach to the term participation. The interpretive data are consistent with two of Hofstede's dimensions of cultural variability: Power Distance and Uncertainty Avoidance. Managers from 5 European Community nations—Denmark, England, France, Holland, and Germany—discuss participation in highly diverse yet systematic ways. The implications of these findings for international management are discussed.     

Everyday emotion word and personal pronoun use reflects dyadic adjustment among couples coping with breast cancer

Dyadic adjustment is integral for couples facing breast cancer; therefore, it is important to identify its everyday indicators. A total of 52 couples coping with breast cancer wore the Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR) for one weekend and completed the Dyadic Adjustment Scale to investigate how dyadic adjustment manifests in noncancer‐related word use. Multilevel models revealed that partners', rather than one's own, positive emotion words positively related to dyadic adjustment. Conversely, spouses' negative emotion words and patients' anger words were negatively related to dyadic adjustment. Furthermore, focus on spouses rather than patients (spouses “I” and patients “you”) positively related to dyadic adjustment. Results revealed that dyadic adjustment can be reflected in couples' everyday word use, serving as an objective indicator of marital quality.