On the diphasic nature of vasovagal fainting associated with blood-injury-illness phobia

A detailed psychophysiologic analysis of a vasovagal faint occurring in a “blood-injury-illness” phobic demonstrated that the syncopal episode consisted of a diphasic response. This lends support to the hypothesis that vasovagal fainting in these patients is caused by an overcompensating rebound parasympathetic activation following sympathetic arousal. Treatment and research implications of this finding are discussed.     

INTELLIGENCE TESTING,COGNITION, AND INSTRUCTION*

This paper examines the implications of recent theory and research in cognitive psychology for the understanding and assessment of intelligence. Three major themes are developed. The first has to do with how changes in the social and educational climate for testing can influence the conception of intellectual competence and the technology of testing. The second theme concerns the ways that cognitive psychology, with its emphases on memory, problem-solving, and knowledge acquisition, has begun to provide a new framework for viewing differences in intellectual functioning. Finally, it is argued that study of the kinds of performances required for success in school suggests ways in which intelligence testing can be made more responsive to current social and educational needs.     

Lingual vibrotactile threshold alterations in response to varying stimulation levels of intensity and duration.

Lingual vibrotactile thresholds were obtained at a frequency of 250 Hz by using an ascending-continuous series of stimulation during five sessions. Each of three adult male Ss attended a control session which included a prescribed period of constant tongue positioning, a pre-experimental session where the mean of six thresholds was obtained as a basis of further testing, and three experimental sessions. In the experimental sessions vibrotactile thresholds after exposure to vibratory stimulation of varying levels of intensity and duration were obtained. The findings of the control session reflected a slight pattern of decreased lingual sensitivity indicative of the influential factor of constant maintenance of tongue positioning. Results from the experimental sessions demonstrated shifts toward progressively decreased lingual sensitivity after exposure to vibratory signals of increased levels of intensity and duration. A recovery phase to near-normal sensitivity followed each stimulus presentation.     

The influence of the interaction of weight and volume on subjective heaviness

A model previously proposed for the size-weight illusion (Cross & Rotkin, 1975) was found unsatisfactory because the postulated volume parameter was not independent of the unit of measurement of weight and the model yielded a paradoxical prediction that the perceived heaviness of small objects should decrease as their weight increased. A new model was proposed based on Stevens and Rubin’s (1970) finding that heaviness functions are a family of con-verging power functions and some of Cross and Rotkin’s developments. The model was ex-amined by estimating its parameters from data previously reported by Cross and Rotkin, Stevens and Rubin, and Kolehmainen and Mikkonen (1970). The equations was found to fit each set of data well. Four independent estimates of a volume parameter of the model were in close agreement, .18, .21, .21, and .24, which is consistent with the model. nt]mis|This research was supported by Grants A0151 and A9582 from the National Research Council of Canada.     

Subjective ratios and differences in perceived heaviness

In previous studies, judgments of ratios and differences in subjective magnitude have yielded similar orders, consistent with a hypothesis that a single perceived relation underlies both judgment tasks. In the present research, 15 subjects estimated heaviness differences between 28 pairs of eight weights and each of 8 groups of 10 subjects evaluated heaviness ratios of eight variable stimuli with respect to a different standard stimulus. Presenting stimuli that were equally spaced on a cube-root scale of weight enhanced expected ordinal discrepancies between ratio and difference estimates, and employing independent groups for each standard stimulus in ratio estimation eliminated a possible bias due to varying standards within the presentation sequence. Differences in orders of ratio and difference estimates together with differences in scales obtained from non-metric analyses in terms of a difference model indicated that the judgments were based on two perceived relations that are ordinally consistent with arithmetic operations of ratios and differences. A ratio scale of heaviness was derived from the combined orders of subjective ratios and differences.     

AN EVALUATION OF TEACHING-FAMILY (ACHIEVEMENT PLACE) GROUP HOMES FOR JUVENILE OFFENDERS

Juvenile crime is a serious problem for which no treatment approach has been found to be reliably effective. This outcome evaluation assessed during and posttreatment effectiveness of Teaching-Family group home treatment programs for juvenile offenders. The evaluation included the original Achievement Place program, which was the prototype for the development of the Teaching-Family treatment approach, 12 replications of Achievement Place, and 9 comparison group home programs. Primary dependent measures were retrieved from court and police files and included number of alleged offenses, percentage of youths involved in those alleged offenses, and percentage of youths institutionalized. Other dependent measures were subjective ratings of effectiveness obtained from the program consumers, including the group home residents. The results showed difference during treatment favoring the Teaching-Family programs on rate of alleged criminal offenses, percentage of youths involved in those offenses, and consumer ratings of the programs. The consumer ratings provided by the youths and their school teachers were found to be inversely and significantly correlated with the reduction of criminal offenses during treatment. There were no significant differences during treatment on measures of noncriminal offenses (e.g., truancy, runaway, and curfew violations). In the posttreatment year, none of the differences between the groups was significant on any of the outcome measures. The results are discussed in terms of measurement and design issues in the evaluation of delinquency treatment programs and in relation to the evaluation of Teaching-Family group homes by Richard Jones and his colleagues.     

The relationship between parent-youth interaction and delinquency in group homes

Interactions between the youths and group home parents in 10 group homes were directly observed during a 2-hour session in each home. These observations were compared to questionnaire measures of the youths' self-reported delinquency while in the group home, and their evaluation of the group home program. The results indicated that over the 10 homes there was a strong inverse correlation between mean self-reported delinquency and the average amount of time youths spent taking to (r _s =–.95)and in proximity to (r _s =–.81)their group home parents. Talking to group home parents also showed a positive correlation with the youths' evaluation of their group home program. Similar trends were found when the correlations were computed over individual youths, although the magnitudes were reduced. These data may have implications for our understanding of the relationship between parenting behaviors and delinquency, as well as for the improvement of group-home treatment programs.This research was supported by Grant MH20030 and by a postdoctoral research fellowship (Grant MH15200, awarded to the first author) from the National Institute of Mental Health (Center for Studies in Crime and Delinquency). These grants were made to the Bureau of Child Research and the Department of Human Development, University of Kansas. The authors wish to thank Susan Whitely for her statistical consultation, and Jay Atwater, Carol Cramer, and Lynette Forbes for their help in the data analysis. Appreciation is also extended to the many teaching-parents whose cooperation made the research possible.