Health Status and Peer Relationships in Early Adolescence: The Role of Peer Contact, Self-esteem, and Social Anxiety

We examined associations between children’s health status and the quality of their peer relationships, as well as factors that may account for individual variation in the quality of chronically ill and healthy children’s peer relationships. Our sample included 268 children (138 boys; 130 girls) with 149 European-Americans and 119 African-Americans. There were 91 children with a chronic illness; 35 with asthma, 26 with diabetes, and 30 with obesity. Chronically ill children were characterized by teachers as displaying less prosocial behavior, less overt aggression, and less relational aggression with peers than healthy children. Chronically ill children reported lower levels of peer contact and higher levels of social anxiety than healthy children. Among chronically ill children those with high self-esteem were more prosocial and less aggressive than those with low self-esteem. Our findings suggest that chronically ill children are at risk for peer relationship difficulties, but that self-esteem may serve as a protective factor against poor peer relationships for some chronically ill children.     

Caffeine deprivation state modulates expression of acquired liking for caffeine-paired flavours

Previous studies found that caffeine consumers acquired a liking for the flavour of novel caffeinated drinks when these drinks were consumed repeatedly in a caffeine-deprived, but not nondeprived, state. Expression of this acquired liking appeared acutely sensitive to current caffeine deprivation state, but the use of between-subjects designs confounded interpretation of those studies. The present study evaluated these findings further using a within-subject design, with one flavour paired with caffeine (CS + ) and the second with the absence of caffeine (CS-). During four CS + and four CS- training days, 32 moderate caffeine consumers alternatively consumed a novel flavoured drink a CS + paired with caffeine and a CS- flavour paired with placebo. Participants evaluated both drinks before and after training in two motivational states: caffeine deprived and nondeprived. As predicted, pleasantness ratings for the caffeine-paired flavour increased overall. However, this acquired liking was only significant when tested in a caffeine-deprived state. These data are consistent with a conditioned-flavour preference model and imply that expression of acquired liking for a novel caffeinated flavour depends on the need for the effects of caffeine at the time when the drink is evaluated.     

Theory and the Organic Bioethicist

This article argues for the importance of theoreticalreflections that originate from patients' experiences.Traditionally academic philosophers have linked their ability totheorize about the moral basis of medical practice to their roleas outside observer. The author contends that recently a new typeof reflection has come from within particular patientpopulations. Drawing upon a distinction created by AntonioGramsci, it is argued that one can distinguish the theorygenerated by traditional bioethicists, who are academicallytrained, from that of ``organic' bioethicists, who identifythemselves with a particular patient community. Thecharacteristics of this new type of bioethicist that are exploredin this article include a close association of memoir andphilosophy, an interrelationship of theory and praxis, and anintimate connection between the individual and a particularpatient community.     

Motivation concepts and sexual identity

The association dimension of the Picture Identification Test (PIT) was used to investigate the motivation concepts of male and female university students classified as Declared Homosexual, Sexually Uncertain, Clinical Control, and Normal Control. The t test was used to identify Need Association Dyads which discriminated (p < .01) groups. Greater than chance numbers of variables discriminated each of the pairs of groups within each sex except the Sexually Uncertain versus Clinical Control Male groups, the Declared Homosexual versus Clinical Control Female groups, and the Declared Homosexual versus Normal Control Female groups. PIT Need Association Dyads were discussed as a type of implicit personality theory assessment with emphasis on the beliefs subjects hold about the simultaneous expression of needs.     

Tethered insect flight: A system for automated data processing of behavioral events

Flight mills to which flying insects are tethered, and which allow measurement of locomotion in a circular path, are used to measure flight capability in terms of frequency, duration, velocity, and distance. Also, they are adaptable to measurement of physiological processes such as respiration and energy consumption. We describe a flight-mill system with floating magnets and Teflon® bearings in its rotor that minimize frictional drag. Rotation (of the mill rotor) is transduced by interruption of a light beam to a phototransistor, which produces a signal monitored by a specially constructed event recorder. The event recorder temporarily stores the data from each mill and then transmits them in proper format for permanent storage on seven-track magnetic tape. The system allows simultaneous data collection from 18 individual insects and provides a computerized interpretation of their performance. The result is an analysis of all the significant parameters of flight that can be derived by measuring duration, velocity, distance, and frequency.     

Postfusional latency in stereoscopic slant perception and the primitives of stereopsis

Random dot stereograms of slanted surfaces were constructed, each representing one or two slanted surfaces in different relative arrangements and with different axes. Latency to fusion and from fusion to stereoscopic resolution was measured for each stimulus. It was found that latency to fusion was always very brief but that latency to stereoscopic resolution varied markedly, depending upon the orientation and arrangement of the stereoscopic surfaces. A gradient of discontinuities at a surface boundary produced an instant slant response for that surface, whereas a gradient of absolute disparities across the surface did not, except under conditions where vertical declination (a form of orientation disparity) was present. We conclude that stereopsis is not based on the primitives used in matching the images for fusion and that it is, at least initially, a response to disparity discontinuities which play no role in the fusion process. We also conclude that vertical declination is responded to globally as a slant around a horizontal axis but that other forms of orientation disparity are ineffective. The evidence from our experiments does not support the existence of a stereoscopic ability to respond globally to differences in magnification (or spatial frequency). It is suggested that stereoscopic perception of slant around a vertical axis is slow because it results from the integration of local processes.     

The dissociation of position and extent in Müller-Lyer figures

Three experiments were designed to determine whether Müller-Lyer figures cause a misperception of the positions of their fins and, if they do, whether it is commensurate with the distortion of extent. Observers marked the visible intersection of shaft and fins either with their unseen hands or with their visible hands after the figure had been removed from view. In the former case, no systematic distortions of position were evident. In the latter case, there were small, systematic distortions of position, which were significantly smaller when the observers fixated the target vertex than when they fixated the center of the figure. These differences are discussed in terms of the probable similarities between the control of eye movements and the control of pointing responses. Of particular importance is the finding that even the largest distortions of vertex position were much smaller than the distortions of shaft extent. The results appear to provide evidence of the independence of perceived position from perceived extent in Müller-Lyer figures and to contradict all existing theories of the illusion.     

A Civil Art: The Persuasive Moral Voice of Oscar Romero

When moral or religious teachings have public and political effects, analysis usually focuses on the message, but attention to the manner in which the teachings are communicated is equally important in understanding their power to influence the course of events. Oscar Romero's particular style of moral discourse was remarkably effective for three reasons: First, his moral reasoning resonated with Salvadoran identity. It was intelligible within those reigning assumptions about national history and territory that could actually move a public to action. Second, his moral judgments were timely. Romero sought to discern what was possible for the Salvadoran public at a given moment. Third, Romero had integrity as public figure. He lived in such a way that his life, and especially his death, became an exemplary embodiment of the larger religious narrative that both grounded his ethics and gave meaning to the nation.