Depth of processing: When the principle of congruity fails

Two factors, level of processing (Craik & Lockhart, 1972) and congruity (Schulman, 1974), known to have large effects on the recall of experimenter-provided responses to questions, were examined in a series of five incidental learning experiments using subject-generated responses. The data show that manipulation of level of processing has the same effect on recall of subjectgenerated responses as it does on experimenter-provided responses. However, the effect of congruity is reversed for subject-generated responses. The data suggest that the difficulty of generating unrelated responses (“incongruous“ items) may account, at least in part, for the failure of the “principle of congruity“ with subject-generated responses.     

SEVERE CLASSROOM BEHAVIOR PROBLEMS: TEACHERS OR COUNSELLORS

This experiment was designed to determine the relative effectiveness of teacher and counselling approaches in the reduction of disruptive or inappropriate classroom behavior. Inappropriate classroom behavior frequencies of 12 academically low achieving, seventh-grade, black male students, with a reported high rate of inappropriate classroom behavior, were recorded. Three groups, with nearly equal mean inappropriate behaviors, were randomly assigned to one of three treatment conditions: behavioral counselling, client-centered counselling, or no counselling. Each counselling group received fifteen 30-minute counselling sessions, at a rate of two to three times a week. In addition to counselling, all students subsequently received teacher approval within the classroom. Results indicated that the teacher was able to reduce inappropriate behavior more than any counselling group. There were also indications that behavioral counselling, but not client-centered counselling, was moderately helpful in reducing inappropriate classroom behavior.     

Exploration and avoidance in rats with lesions in amygdala and piriform cortex

Lesions localized to specific areas of the amygdala and overlying cortex in rats produced differential effects in several behavioral tasks. Three different types of lesions were tested: central, basolateral, and cortex lateral to the amygdala. Lesions restricted to the central nucleus produced increased activity on all parameters studied in an open-field test, but the other two groups were not changed. In one-way active avoidance all three groups with lesions showed deficits. The most pronounced change was observed in the central group. All groups showed the same degree of retention loss, but in forced extinction of one-way active avoidance after retraining, the cortical and basolateral groups were most defective. A fear-reduction hypothesis is proposed for the central lesion. The basolateral and cortical areas may be more specifically involved in passive avoidance behavior.     

Sexual arousal and interpersonal evaluations

In an attempt to reconcile conflicting results concerning the effects of sexual arousal on interpersonal evaluations, hypotheses based on adaptation level, arousal-need gratification, and labeling of arousal explanations were tested. The variables of sexual arousal, technique of stimulus material presentation, physical attractiveness of the original stimulus female, and physical attractiveness of the final target person being judged were manipulated in a 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 design. A significant three-way interaction (Arousal × Stimulus Attractiveness × Target Attractiveness) obtained on all measures of interpersonal evaluation was interpreted as supporting a labeling of arousal explanation. It is suggested that subjects first interpret their arousal as being caused by their attraction toward the stimulus person. The characteristics of the stimulus person then become a factor used by subjects when they subsequently make judgments of target females. The adaptation-level and arousal-need gratification hypotheses were not supported.     

Pain as purgation: The role of pathologizing in the life of the mystic

Since Descartes, man has been defined in terms of body and spirit only. Yet there is a third term that is of crucial importance for the founding of a psychology of suffering. The realm of psyche, or soul, is a middle ground between the spirit and the body in which the psychological forces of one's life find expression. A psychological approach to the anguish of the suffering soul can be found within the writings of the early desert fathers as well as in the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch. The penitent must learn patience in the face of his suffering, before he can experience the joy of spiritual maturity.A famous anchorite came to take counsel on high things with the abbot Pastor, but the old man turned away his head, and the anchorite went away aggrieved. His disciple asked Pastor why he had refused to talk with a man so great and of such reputation in his own country, and the old man said that his visitor could speak of heavenly things, but that he himself was of earth. If he had spoken to me of the passions of the soul I could have answered him: but of the things of the spirit I am ignorant.Mr. Fischer is a member of the Psychology Department, University of Dallas, Irving, Texas 75060.     

Differential indications for desipramine--results of a controlled multiclinical study]

The antidepressants desipramine and imipramine were compared within the framework of a multiclinical study performed under the conditions of a controlled clinical experiment. There has been found a time-different remission of affective symptoms, which was not detectable for the inhibition of drive. The tachythymoleptic action of desipramine is discussed with reference to these results. Evaluation of the possibility of controlling affects shows different ranges of activity of desipramine and imipramine, with desipramine influencing especially negative psychoenergetic symptoms in the area of drives and emotions and imipramine, restrictive symptoms in addition to differential phenomena of the psychomotor expression.     

Why child neuropsychiatry?]

The author gives a brief survey of the development of Child-Neuropsychiatry in the G.D.R. and subsequently gives reasons for the decision in favor of the unity of neurology and psychiatry as applied to children and juveniles, which is in contrast to developments in other countries. In addition to hygienic, economic, organizational, and medical considerations, this decision was also determined by the fact that a Child-Neuropsychiatrist must, in his practical work as a subspecialist, be able to head a multiprofessional team and, thus, help assure optimum development of a child's personality.