“What matters to us”: The portrait values questionnaire to measure couple values

No previous studies have analyzed values as qualities of relational microsystems, such as the romantic couple. Based on Schwartz's Theory of Human Values, this study examines the psychometric properties of the Portrait Couple Values Questionnaire (PCVQ). It measures four couple value dimensions: conservation, openness to change, self-enhancement, and self-transcendence. Five hundred and forty-six Italian respondents (54.1% women), aged 41.52 years (SD = 7.19; range 23–63) and having a couple relationship, have filled in an anonymous online questionnaire. The results show the good psychometric properties of the PCVQ. The Confirmatory Factor Analysis Magnifying Glass Strategy shows good indexes of fit for each value dimension, except for the Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) for openness to change, thus confirming that the PCVQ measures the four values with satisfactory internal consistency. The Multidimensional Scaling results, by showing a Stress-1 index of 0.07, confirm the circular structure of values because the four value dimensions are in the position predicted by Schwartz's model. Participants' personal and couple values are highly but not perfectly correlated, suggesting that couple values are a related but distinct construct compared to personal values. This study's contribution lies in introducing an innovative construct into the literature on values and couples, proposing a scale to assess it.     

Transfer effects from language processing to visual attention dynamics: The impact of orthographic transparency

The consistency between letters and sounds varies across languages. These differences have been proposed to be associated with different reading mechanisms (lexical vs. phonological), processing grain sizes (coarse vs. fine) and attentional windows (whole words vs. individual letters). This study aimed to extend this idea to writing to dictation. For that purpose, we evaluated whether the use of different types of processing has a differential impact on local windowing attention: phonological (local) processing in a transparent language (Spanish) and lexical (global) processing of an opaque language (English). Spanish and English monolinguals (Experiment 1) and Spanish–English bilinguals (Experiment 2) performed a writing to dictation task followed by a global–local task. The first key performance showed a critical dissociation between languages: the response times (RTs) from the Spanish writing to dictation task was modulated by word length, whereas the RTs from the English writing to dictation task was modulated by word frequency and age of acquisition, as evidence that language transparency biases processing towards phonological or lexical strategies. In addition, after a Spanish task, participants more efficiently processed local information, which resulted in both the benefit of global congruent information and the reduced cost of incongruent global information. Additionally, the results showed that bilinguals adapt their attentional processing depending on the orthographic transparency.     

Book reviews

Encyclopaedia of Linguistics, Information and Control. Edited by A. R. Meetham with the assistance of R. A. Hudson. Oxford: Pergamon Press. 1969. Pp. xiv + 718. 300s.

The Biological Basis of Personality. By H. J. Eysenck. Springfield: Thomas. 1968. Pp. xv + 399. $18.50.

Scientific Basis of Dvug Dependence. Biological Council Symposium. Edited by H. Steinberg. London: Churchill. 1969. Pp. 429. 100s.

Minnesota Symposia on Child Psychology, Vol. 2. Edited by John P. Hill. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. 1969. Pp. viii + 172.

Memory and Attention: an introduction to human information processes. By Donald A. Norman. Chichester, Sussex: John Wiley. 1969. Pp. ix + 201. 84s. (cloth); 44s. (paper). Verbal Learning and Memory: selected readings. By Leo Postman and Geoffrey Keppel. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. 1969. Pp. 501. 12s.

Handbuch der Kinderheilkunde. Edited by H. Opitz and F. Schmidt. Rand VIII/I: Neurologie-Psychologic-Psychiatrie. Redigiert von F. Schmidt und H. Asperger. Berlin: Springer Verlag. Pp. 1060. Price DM385, S96.25.

Digital Computing. By R. S. Lehman and D. E. Bailey. London: John Wiley & Sons Ltd. 1969. Pp. xxiv + 303. 79s.

Real-Time Computers. By W. R. Uttal. New York: Harper & Row. 1968. Pp. xiv + 338. 93s.     

Control of-treadmill exercise of rats with hypothalamic stimulation

Running and resting behavior of rats was measured during treadmill exercise under conditions involving (1) rear-shock avoidance, (2) continuous electrical stimulation of the hypothalamus, or (3) no rear-shock and no hypothalamic stimulation. Hypothalamic stimulation was superior for eliciting consistent running with a minimum of resting. A second experiment demonstrated that decreases in hypothalamically elicited treadmill running resulting from prolonged exercise could be counteracted by increasing the intensity of the hypothalamic stimulus. A third experiment suggested that very little training was needed to induce a high and consistent level of running performance using hypothalamic stimulation.     

SOME EFFECTS OF CULTURAL TRAINING ON LEADERSHIP IN HETEROCULTURAL TASK GROUPS1

Diriger des groupes de travail d'une autre culture : effets de I'initiation préalable à cette culture. — Etude exploratoire portant sur l'utilité de programmes d'enseignement culturel pour accroître l'efficacité de ceux qui sont amenés à diriger des groupes de travail appartenant à une autre culture que la leur. La recherche a porté sur vingt-quatre sujets américains (cadets ROTC, engagés volontaires dans une compagnie des Forces Spéciales de l'armée américaine) et a également requis la participation de douze étudiants arabes, inscrits à I'Université de l'Illinois. Les vingt-quatre sujets américains ont été divisés en deux groupes égaux d'après la note qu'ils ont obtenue au LPC (Least Preferred Coworker : partenaire le moins aimé) qui permet d'apprécier les attitudes manifestées dans l'exercice du commandement. Ces groupes sont de nouveau dichotomisés selon deux types de formation : douze sujets reçoivent pendant trois heures un enseignement programmé sur la culture arabe, les douze autres reçoivent un enseignement de même durée et de même forme, sur un sujet sans rapport avec la culture arabe, à savoir la géographie du Moyen-Orient. Après la phase d'enseignement, on demande à chaque S. américain de diriger un groupe composé de deux arabes et de lui-même. Chaque équipe de deux arabes est utilisée une fois dans chacune des quatre conditions expérimentales (deux types de chefs, deux types de formation), l'ordre étant contrebalancé. Chaque groupe travaille sur trois tâches différentes (une tâche coopérative non structurée, une tâche coopérative structurée, une tâche de négotiation). On obtient généralement un plus haut niveau de performance, mesurée à la fois par la productivité et par la qualité des relations dirigeant-dirigé, avec les moniteurs qui ont reçu un enseignement sur la culture arabe. On trouve également des différences entre les moniteurs libéraux, soucieux de bonnes relations inter-personnelles et les moniteurs autoritaires et répressifs. l'interaction entre I'initiation à la culture et le style de commandement montre que les moniteurs qui ont des styles différents bénéficient de manière spécifique du programme d'initiation culturelle. On constate que I'initiation à la culture et I'interaction face à face avec des gens d'une autre culture entraînent des changements positifs dans les attitudes.