Reasoning in the hooded rat

A problem situation was devised to test Deutsch's (1956) theory of reasoning. In this situation various problems can be set the rat and these problems admit of various equally rational solutions. Predictions from the theory were made, not only that the animals would solve the problems, but also which particular solution they would adopt. These predictions are confirmed. The rats were trained to run to two goal-boxes, one near, the other more distant. The near one had two paths of equal length leading to it, the more distant goal only one. After training, the animals chose the near goal-box on the first trial of the day. On the test trials the near goal-box was left empty, or the chosen path blocked, or a mesh placed across the goal-box, with the food accessible via the other short path.     

Affective responses to seeing oneself for the first time on unedited videotape

Despite the growing popularity of watching oneself on videotape, little systematic research has been conducted determine viewers' affective responses to video replay. This study addresses the question: what affective responses do women have when they view themselves for the first time on unedited videotape, in comparison to their responses when they view a peer or nature scenes on videotape? Affective responses were measured in three ways: self-report, physiological, and behavioral. Subjects who viewed themselves reported more negative feelings and anxiety, and smiled more frequently than subjects who watched another person or nature scenes on video. Subjects with high private self-consciousness had higher mean arterial blood pressures when viewing themselves than did subjects with low private self-consciousness. Overall, the implications for seeing oneself on video point to potential embarrassment but generally moderate effects.     

CONCEPTUALIZATIONS OF WORK,FAMILY AND LEISURE BY MANAGERS OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY*

This study analysed the way 20 managers in the information technology industry in Australia viewed their lives, and identified two dimensions of central importance cutting across the work, family and leisure spheres encompassed by them. One dimension was positively loaded towards activities which were challenging, creative and under the individual's control. These activities were enjoyable, and included examples such as consulting with clients, creating new business, and communicating and dealing with others, whether at work or at home. The opposite pole of this dimension involved activities such as completing paperwork, general administration, doing the shopping, and disciplining the children. Such activities were seen as necessary, routine or stressful, and were generally disliked. The other dimension dealt with activities which, at one pole, were emotionally involving or involved moral standards, and included examples such as attending meetings, doing things as a family, and settling disputes, either at work or at home. At the other pole were activities which were usually done alone and involved no sense of social or moral obligation. Leisure activities typically fell into this category. The results indicated that these managers generally pursued a lifestyle which was seen to be non-stressful, and one valued for the challenge, enjoyment, freedom of choice and personal control which it offered.     

Correspondence

The American Journal of Psychoanalysis -     

Enhancing possible selves in Mexican American students

This project assessed the modifiability of possible selves in young Mexican American children. Three intervention conditions were compared in a pre- and posttest design: child-only intervention, parent and child intervention, and a no-intervention control. Following eight intervention sessions, children in the two intervention groups showed significant gains in understanding the characteristics associated with becoming a good student and in recognizing the value of education in bringing about future occupational goals. Children in the intervention conditions also reported greater interest in becoming a physician, judge, or pilot — occupations they had directly experienced during training. The parent intervention phase contributed little to augmenting the positive results attributable to the child intervention component.This research was conducted under the auspices of NIH Grant HD-24003. We wish to thank Maritza Robles and the staff of the Bilingual program of the South Bend, IN, Corporation for their support.     

Traditional Ideologies,Nontraditional Lives

This study examined how blue-collar couples whoalternate work shifts and share the care of theirchildren reconcile their traditional gender ideologieswith their nontraditional lives. In-depth interviews were conducted with twenty-three alternatingshift couples in which the husband was a blue-collarworker. Ninety-six per cent of the participants wereWhite, and the remainder were Hispanic. The results suggested that despite their nontraditionalbehavior, these couples maintained traditional genderidentities by adherence to three central beliefs abouttheir families: 1) the father was still the breadwinner; 2) the mother only worked in the paid laborforce because of financial pressures; and 3) the motherwas still the central parent. The ways in which each ofthese myths is constructed, and the functions they serve of both maintaining traditionalgender identity, and of obscuring potential conflictsbetween husbands and wives over identity arediscussed.     

Interference in pitch memory as a function of ear or input

An experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of spatial separation on interference effects in pitch memory. Subjects compared the pitches of two tones that were separated by a sequence of eight interpolated tones. It was found that error rates were lower in sequences where the test and interpolated tones were presented to different ears, compared with sequences where they were presented to the same ear; however, this effect of spatial separation was not large. It is concluded that differences in spatial location can enable the focussing of attention away from the irrelevant tones and so reduce their disruptive effect, but that this occurs only to a limited extent.