Sex differences in comments made during conflict within close heterosexual pairs

Questionnaires were used to investigate (1) stereotypes about what young couples do and say during their conflicts and (2) reports (by actual young couples) of what each one is likely to do or say. The two sets of data yielded much the same pattern of results. The female is expected and reported to cry and sulk and to criticize the male for lack of consideration of her feelings and for insensitivity to his effect on her. The male is expected and reported to show anger, to reject the female's tears, to call for a logical and less emotional approach to the problem, and to give reasons for delaying the discussion. The Study I expectations for sex differences during conflict are held to about the same degree by the female and male respondents. In both studies, the differences were found to depend primarily on sex of the person and not on the particular problem involved in the conflict. The results are interpreted in terms of the interaction between a conflict-avoidant person (the male) and his partner (the female), who is frustrated by the avoidance and asks that the problem and the feelings associated with it be confronted.     

Real-world schemata and scene recognition in adults and children

Recognition memory for previously seen multiobject scenes was examined for different types of contextual arrangements between objects in the scenes. It was found that organized scenes with novel but possible interobject relations were recognized more accurately than either organized scenes with familiar interobject relations or unorganized scenes with impossible interobject relations. This finding was obtained for adults, 8- to 10-year-old children, and 5- to 8-year-old children who indicated concrete-operational ability in Piaget’s conservation-of-liquid quantity task. The results were interpreted in conjunction with a two-stage model of scene processing involving the formation of a schema to represent a scene (Stage 1), and the operation of the schema in governing the further processing of detailed information in the scene (Stage 2). It was concluded that preoperational children can form schemata to represent organized scenes (Stage 1), but it is not until the emergence of concrete operations that these schemata become operational with respect to guiding the further processing of information in the scene (Stage 2).     

Gender and developmental patterns of affect, belief, and behavior in simulated injury events

This study examined the hypothesis drawn from epidemiological data that beliefs and affective reactions of male second, fifth, and eighth graders, undergraduates, and adults in response to a series of four simulated bicycle collisions would show decreased expectation and avoidance of injury in comparison to females. This study also contrasted two additional hypotheses, one suggesting an invincibility belief in teenagers, producing a curvilinear age trend, with risky cognitions increasing from second grade, peaking at eighth grade, and then decreasing in adulthood. The other hypothesis suggested that with exposure, risky beliefs increased linearly, due to desensitization to cues of risk. As predicted, female participants did expect more fear and pain, and less exhilaration, and braked sooner after seeing the hazard than male participants. Linear rather than curvilinear age patterns emerged across films, revealing that the youngest participants anticipated more fear and less exhilaration than older participants. These results parallel developmental trends in which females and younger participants who anticipate more serious consequences are at lower risk for bicycle injury than are males, older children, and adolescents. Limitations of this analogue study and potential questions for both future research and the application of injury prevention techniques are explored.     

Threat interpretation in anxious children and their mothers: comparison with nonclinical children and the effects of treatment

Interpretation biases towards threat play a prominent role in cognitive theories of anxiety, and have been identified amongst highly anxious adults and children. Little is known, however, about the development of these cognitive biases although family processes have been implicated. The current study investigated the nature of threat interpretation of anxious children and their mothers through (i) comparison of a clinic and non-clinic population, (ii) analysis of individual differences; and (iii) pre- and post-treatment comparisons. Participants were 27 children with a primary anxiety disorder and 33 children from a non-clinic population and their mothers. Children and mothers completed self-report measures of anxiety and indicated their most likely interpretation of ambiguous scenarios. Clinic and non-clinical groups differed significantly on measures of threat interpretation. Furthermore, mothers' and children's threat interpretation correlated significantly. Following treatment for child anxiety, both children and their mothers reported a reduction in threat interpretation.     

Stimulus complexity and information integration in the spontaneous interpretations of line graphs

Viewers of a graph will readily interpret its contents, even when given no explicit instructions regarding what information to extract. However, little is known about the strategies that subjects adopt when making such spontaneous interpretations. In the present experiments, subjects studied single-function line graphs for self-determined periods. They provided written interpretations immediately following examination of each graph. The structural complexity of stimulus graphs was varied by eliminating symmetry, and by adding data points, departures from linearity, and trend reversals. Across two experiments, number of trend reversals was the main determinant of comprehension difficulty as measured by study times. An increased number of reversals also resulted in more local, detail-oriented content in interpretations. By contrast, the presence of such emergent features as symmetry and linearity led to increases in the amount of integrative, global content in interpretations, usually at the expense of local detail. Surprisingly, increases in the number of data points led to similar increases in the grain of subjects' interpretations. The last finding may reflect a shift from point-by-point to integrative study strategies necessitated by capacity limitations in working memory.     

Reliability of a Measure of Temporal Discounting

The Psychological Record - Participants (N = 17) chose between smaller, immediate and larger, delayed hypothetical money amounts in two laboratory sessions separated by 1 week. The choice procedure...     

Reward dominance and passive avoidance learning in adolescent psychopaths

This study tests predictions that adolescent psychopaths are hyperresponsive to rewards (Quay, 1988) and deficient in passive avoidance learning (Newman & Kosson, 1986). Forty male adolescent juvenile offenders were divided into psychopaths and nonpsychopaths using cluster analysis. Subjects were administered a passive avoidance learning task which required learning when to respond to cards associated with either reward or punishment. Results showed a greater responsivity to reward in psychopaths, with no group differences in passive avoidance errors. Results lend support to the view that psychopaths tend to focus on the prospect of reward under conditions of mixed incentives and, when sufficiently motivated, are capable of improved performance. Together with findings of recent psychophysiological studies, these results suggest that adolescent psychopaths may have latent abilities which could have treatment implications.The authors are greatly indebted to the boys and staff of the testing institution for their kind cooperation in this study. Thanks are also due to Dr. Rand Wilcox for statistical consultation and Cheryl Eurton and Marni Ayers for assistance in data coding.     

Coping, Conflictual Social Interactions, Social Support, and Mood Among HIV-Infected Persons

This study considers the interrelationships among coping, conflictual social interactions, and social support, as well as their combined associations with positive and negative mood. Research has shown that each of these variables affects adjustment to stressful circumstances. Few studies, however, examine this full set of variables simultaneously. One hundred forty HIV-infected persons completed a questionnaire containing measures of coping, social support, conflictual social interactions, and positive and negative mood. Factor analyses showed that perceived social support and conflictual social interactions formed separate factors and were not strongly related. Compared to perceived social support, social conflict was more strongly related to coping behaviors, especially to social isolation, anger, and wishful thinking. Conflictual social interactions were more strongly related to negative mood than was perceived social support. Coping by withdrawing socially was significantly related to less positive and greater negative mood. The findings point to the importance of simultaneously considering coping, supportive relationships, and conflictual relationships in studies of adjustment to chronic illness. In particular, a dynamic may occur in which conflictual social interactions and social isolation aggravate each other and result in escalating psychological distress.     

The M5-PS-35: a five-factor personality questionnaire for preschool children

The Five-factor theory of personality (FFT) has pervaded personality research in recent years. Although many reliable and valid measurement instruments exist for use with adults, adolescents, and even elementary-age children, there is a lack of available 5-factor measurement tools for use with preschool children. This article expands on previous work developing the M5-PS, a rating form for preschool children designed to be completed by classroom teachers or caregivers. A total of 621 children were rated by their teachers on the 90-item working form of the M5-PS. Through a combination of empirical and rational scale refinement methods, the number of items has been reduced to 35, yielding a revised instrument, the M5-PS-35, with substantially improved construct validity and scale internal consistency. Potential changes in external validity were evaluated by comparative reanalysis of an existing data set.