The lack of effects of enriched and automated environments on the adaptive and maladaptive behavior of mentally retarded persons

This study addressed the relative effects of repeated exposures to an austere institutional dayroom, a toy enriched dayroom, a PUSH (Play Units for the Severely Handicapped) room that contained automated stimulation devices within a physical terrain, and a modular room that contained wall mounted automated stimulation devices, on the adaptive and maladaptive freeplay behavior of six groups of institutionalized mentally retarded individuals (N = 6 per group). Group One was observed in all four settings, whereas the other five were observed in two or more of the active settings. The results indicated that (1) there were only slight differences in object-directed adaptive behavior when the three active settings were compared to the austere setting, and (2) only the higher functioning subjects (Group Five) displayed consistent individual differences on any of the measures when active settings were compared. None of the comparisons, however, revealed statistically significant effects. This study clearly demonstrates the need for active control conditions, raises questions regarding the relevance of much of the previous research, and suggests that further refinements will be necessary before environments such as those in the present study produce meaningful changes in appropriate environmental interaction in the absence of staff mediation.     

Subjective equality and just noticeable differences in body-size judgments by obese persons

Body-size estimates by obese and normal-weight subjects were compared using two different procedures with a TV-video methodology. In the continuous method subjects adjusted an image larger or smaller until they judged a correct TV-image had been achieved. In the second procedure the method of constant stimuli was used wherein values corresponding to the point of subjective equality (PSE) and difference threshold (DL) were determined. No differences between obese and normal-weight subjects were obtained with these procedures. On the continuous task subjects slightly underestimated body size and were more accurate on descending trials where they adjusted the size of the image downwards. With the second procedure, an average PSE of -.62% was obtained, with an average DL = 7.27%. Different PSE values were obtained when subjects were judging whether their image was distorted too wide or too thin. Data from the two procedures are compared and ramifications for the study of body size are discussed.     

Effects of time-compression on feature and frequency discrimination in aged listeners

This study measured the ability of 16 aged listeners, normal for their age (age range, 63 to 84 yr.) to discriminate phonemic contrasts in sentential stimuli (Subtest 13 of the Carrow-Auditory Visual Abilities Test) presented at 50% time-compression rate. A series of linear regression analyses were performed in which each independent variable was regressed against the continuous variable of age. Over-all performance on the time-compressed task significantly decreased as a function of age. Also discrimination of place of articulation and mid- to high-frequency contrasts was significantly and negatively related to age. In general, such findings suggest that the course of aging continuously imposes degrading effects on speech-processing that are related to discrimination of place feature contrasts.     

Health complaints, stress, and distress: exploring the central role of negative affectivity

Most current models in health psychology assume that stress adversely affects physical health. We re-examined this assumption by reviewing extensive data from the literature and from six samples of our own, in which we collected measures of personality, health and fitness, stress, and current emotional functioning. Results indicate that self-report health measures reflect a pervasive mood disposition of negative affectivity (NA); self-report stress scales also contain a substantial NA component. However, although NA is correlated with health compliant scales, it is not strongly or consistently related to actual, long-term health status, and thus will act as a general nuisance factor in health research. Because self-report measures of stress and health both contain a significant NA component, correlations between such measures likely overestimate the true association between stress and health. Results demonstrate the importance of including different types of health measures in health psychology research.     

Intraindividual and interindividual analyses of positive and negative affect: their relation to health complaints, perceived stress, and daily activities

I examined correlates of Negative Affect (NA) and Positive Affect (PA) through both within- and between-subjects analyses. Eighty subjects completed a daily questionnaire for 6-8 weeks. Each day they rated (a) their mood, (b) the extent to which they suffered from various minor physical problems, (c) their level of stress, (d) the time they spent socializing, and (e) whether or not they had exercised. Subjects also completed several trait tests measuring their general affective level, frequency of health problems, and social tendencies. A between-subjects analysis showed the expected pattern: Level of physical complaints and perceived stress were correlated with individual differences in NA but not in PA, whereas social indicators and frequency of exercise were related only to PA. The within-subjects results generally exhibited a similar pattern: Social activity and exercise were more strongly related to PA, whereas perceived stress was highly related to NA. However, the most significant finding was that, contrary to prediction, health complaints were as strongly related to intraindividual fluctuations in PA as in NA. Possible interpretations of the observed correlates of NA and PA are discussed.     

IDENTIFYING REINFORCERS FOR PERSONS WITH PROFOUND HANDICAPS: STAFF OPINION VERSUS SYSTEMATIC ASSESSMENT OF PREFERENCES

We evaluated a systematic means of determining stimulus preferences among seven profoundly handicapped persons. Preferences were determined by observing student approach responses to individual stimuli. Results indicated that there were differential stimulus preferences across the multiply handicapped participants. However, results of the systematic assessment did not coincide with the results of a more traditional, caregiver-opinion method of assessing student preferences. A second experiment was then conducted with five participants to evaluate whether stimuli that were assessed to consistently represent preferences would function as reinforcers in skill training programs. Results indicated that stimuli that were systematically assessed to represent student preferences typically functioned as reinforcers when applied contingently. However, preferred stimuli as reflected by caregiver opinion did not function as reinforcers unless those stimuli were also preferred on the systematic assessment. Results are discussed in terms of assisting profoundly handicapped persons by (a) improving the effectiveness of training programs by increasing the likelihood of using stimuli that have reinforcing value and (b) increasing the overall quality of life by providing preferred stimuli in the routine living environment.     

Taking a taxi: Front or back seat? The effects of gender and community size

A study of seat choice, front or back, of solo taxi passengers found that a significantly greater number of men than women sat next to the driver in large urban areas, but that no sex difference in front-seat choice appeared in smaller communities. Very few women taxi drivers were observed. The data were interpreted in terms of sex differences in feelings of security, with solo women feeling more vulnerable than men, particularly in large cities.     

The classification of neuropsychological deficit

The study involves classification of neuropsychiatric patients on the basis of neuropsychological and intelligence test performance. One hundred twenty-five hospitalized male neuropsychiatric patients with various diagnoses were administered the Halstead-Reitan and Luria-Nebraska neuropsychological test batteries, as well as the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale. A cluster analysis was performed for each of those three procedures utilizing Ward's method. It was found in all cases that clusters were determined on the basis of level rather than pattern of performance. Relationships were found between cluster membership and age, education, and presence or absence of structural brain damage but were not found for diagnoses of schizophrenia or alcoholism. Schizophrenic and alcoholic patients were found in all clusters in the case of all three test procedures. Differences in clustering among the three test procedures were noted, with the WAIS being relatively more sensitive to educational differences while the Halstead-Reitan was more sensitive to age differences. The clinical utility of classifying patients on the basis of neuropsychological and cognitive test performance was discussed.Acknowledgement is made to the Veterans Administration for support of this research.     

Androgyny as synthetic narcissism: Sex role measures and Kohut's psychology of the self

In Kohut's analysis of narcissism, the self emerges as a bipolar structure characterized by grandiosity at one pole and dependency at the other. Through appropriate developmental processes, grandiosity grows into a mature ambitiousness, and early dependencies are converted into a stable system of ideals. The present investigation predicted that sex role constructs essentially measure these two aspects of the self. Expected relationships between masculinity and grandiosity, and between femininity and dependency, were in fact obtained. Based in large part on Westin's (Self and Society, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985) analysis of Kohut's theory, synthetic, internal, external, and archaic narcissistic self styles were hypothesized to exist and to parallel the androgynous, masculine, feminine, and undifferentiated sex roles, respectively. Rough comparabilities were in fact evident between these two typologies. Factor analyses also demonstrated that narcissism and sex role measures load on factors in ways revealing the intimate ties between pathological narcissism and the failure to achieve desirable sex role characteristics.