A Comparison of the Occurrence of Oral and Anal Content on the Rorschach

The Rorschachs of 102 male psychiatric patients were scored by the Holt system for manifestations of anal and oral psychosexual content. The frequency of occurrence of the two types of content was contrasted. Oral content occurred nearly twice as frequently as that of anal content (t test significant at less than .001 level). There was some suggestion that this difference decreases when the content expressed is of a very primitive nature.     

Ideal-self Responding on the MMPI

The MMPI was administered to 29 college students under standard and ideal-self instructions in order to determine whether or not there is agreement as to what constitutes favorable adjustment. A profile analysis of the ideal-self responses yielding an intraclass correlation of .62 (p < .001). This result substantiates previous studies suggesting that an identifiable profile exists. Items changed between the self and ideal administrations were analyzed for their social favorability, interpretive ambiguity, obviousness, and scale membership. The first three factors were found to significantly influence responding under the ideal-self set. Implications of such item changes and of ideal-self profile were discussed.     

Reflex Responses of Human Lip Muscles to Mechanical Stimulation During Speech

The role played by reflex pathways in the production of movement has been a significant issue for motor control theorists interested in a wide variety of motor behaviors. From studies of locomotion and chewing, it appears that gains in reflex pathways can be altered so that activity in these pathways does not produce destabilizing responses during movement. In speech production, recent experimental evidence has been interpreted to suggest that autogenetic lip reflexes (perioral reflexes) are suppressed during sustained phonation or speech production. The present study was conducted to assess the effects of phonation, direction of movement, and ongoing speech production on reflex responses of lip muscles. The present results suggest, in contrast to earlier work, that this reflex pathway is not suppressed during phonation or speech. However, the response may appear to be suppressed or absent because the amplitude of the observed response depends upon the activation levels of the various muscles of the lower lip and, therefore, indirectly on the nature of the gesture the subject is instructed to produce.     

Intuitive Covariation Assessment of the Illusory Correlation

Most of the research concerned with the illusory correlation is modeled after the seminal work of D. L. Hamilton and R. K. Gifford (1976). However, S. A. Haslam and C. McGarty (1994) have voiced concerns over the dependent measures used within this paradigm. Therefore, in this study, the authors tested a new dependent variable that has high face validity. This measure was modeled after the work of J. R. McGahan and R. Wight (1989) and consisted of a set of propositional statements representing either the illusory correlation, the contingency opposite the illusory correlation, or the noncontingency. A second purpose of this study was to validate other studies that have used dependent measures modeled after the work of J. R. McGahan and R. Wight (1989). Demonstrating that this measure can be used to detect a well-documented phenomenon (i.e., the illusory correlation) would strengthen the results and conclusions from other studies. To this end, results from 2 experiments indicate that this measure does provide a valid alternative to those measures that are commonly used in illusory correlation studies. The results thereby give credence to other studies that have used similar dependent measures.     

Depression and suicidality in obese patients

In a sample of 50 psychiatric patients, suicidality as measured by a 54-item scale was associated with scores on scales to assess the presence of comorbidities, family history, medical factors, clinical ratings of psychiatric diagnosis, psychosocial/environmental factors, and protective factors (multiple R2 = .66).     

Voice pitch influences perceptions of sexual infidelity

Sexual infidelity can be costly to members of both the extra-pair and the paired couple. Thus, detecting infidelity risk is potentially adaptive if it aids in avoiding cuckoldry or loss of parental and relationship investment. Among men, testosterone is inversely related to voice pitch, relationship and offspring investment, and is positively related to the pursuit of short-term relationships, including extra-pair sex. Among women, estrogen is positively related to voice pitch, attractiveness, and the likelihood of extra-pair involvement. Although prior work has demonstrated a positive relationship between men?s testosterone levels and infidelity, this study is the first to investigate attributions of infidelity as a function of sexual dimorphism in male and female voices. We found that men attributed high infidelity risk to feminized women?s voices, but not significantly more often than did women. Women attributed high infidelity risk to masculinized men?s voices at significantly higher rates than did men. These data suggest that voice pitch is used as an indicator of sexual strategy in addition to underlying mate value. The aforementioned attributions may be adaptive if they prevent cuckoldry and/or loss of parental and relationship investment via avoidance of partners who may be more likely to be unfaithful.