Democracy and Fatalism in the Former Soviet Union1

Recent political events in the former Soviet Union suggest that democracy has only a tenuous hold in this region. Underlying many of these events may be psychological values and beliefs ill conducive to the development of democracy. In the 2 studies described in this paper, conducted in 1995 and 1998, 2 large and representative groups of manual workers, students, civil servants, managers, and the retired from 4 former Soviet republics completed measures of fatalism, attitudes toward democracy, and democratic participation (N= 2,672 and 925). Structural equation analyses of the data from both studies find that particular groups (in particular, manual workers and the retired) hold the strongest fatalistic beliefs, which in turn predict democratic attitudes, voting behavior, and political‐party membership. These findings are discussed in the light of possible interventions that might promote democratic participation in the region.     

What are the Marital Problems of Happy Couples? A Multimethod,Two-Sample Investigation

How couples handle marital conflict may depend on what issues they are facing, as some issues may be more difficult to resolve than others. What is unclear, however, is what issues happy couples face and how these issues may be different for couples depending on their developmental stage. To explore this possibility, the current study used both self-reports and observations drawn from two separate samples of happily married couples—one early in middle adulthood (N = 57 couples; average marital duration = 9 years) and one in older adulthood (N = 64 couples; average marital duration = 42 years). Results indicated that all issues were relatively minor, but early middle-aged couples reported more significant problems than did older couples. As to determining the most salient topic for happy couples, it depended on the spouses’ gender, developmental stage, and how salience was assessed (i.e., highest rated issue vs. most discussed issue). Only moderate links were found between what happy couples said was their most serious concern and what they actually tried to resolve during observations of marital problem-solving, but there were differences in how spouses behaved based on the proportion of their time discussing certain topics. Findings suggest that more attention should be devoted to understanding what marital issues happy couples discuss and why, as doing so may reveal how couples maintain their marital happiness.     

Some fear-potentiating effects of fluprazine hydrochloride in mice

The fear-potentiating effects of fluprazine hydrochloride were explored in a series of five experiments. The drug was found to strongly inhibit entry into a novel open field, exploration of a complex maze, or approach to a novel object placed in the animal's home cage. Time sampling techniques were used to assess drug effects on frequencies of immobility, activity, and grooming and rearing responses prior to and for 70 min after footshock. There were no group differences during the 10 min immediately following shock but the groups diverged steadily in immobility, activity, and grooming for the remainder of the observations. Post-shock activity and grooming responses increased steadily towards baseline values among control mice but remained at low levels or declined among drug-treated mice. Immobility responses declined steadily among control mice but increased substantially among the fluprazine-treated mice throughout post-shock observations. Pairs of male mice treated with fluprazine were also found to maintain greater intermouse distances in a novel linear runway than pairs of undrugged adult males, juvenile males, or male-female pairs. It is suggested that fluprazine hydrochloride both potentiates fear and alters its time course in addition to interfering in some way with normal olfactory processes.     

Memory Performance and Socio-Economic Status

Memory ability is affected by the physical, educational and health environments. The nature of these environments, in turn, differs across people with different socio-economic status (SES). Thus, it would be expected that memory performance would vary systematically with SES. However, memory researchers have yet to examine the relationship between economic variables and memory performance. This paper reviews several literatures (medical, public health, IQ, sociological and memory) to assess the relationship—if any—of socio-economic status to memory performance. The results of the review revealed that memory performance is strongly and directly correlated with SES. However, the results were not strong enough to determine whether the extent of this relationship differs across different kinds of memory. These results suggest that memory researchers should investigate further the nature of the relationship between SES and memory performance and take account of the possible influence of SES in the design and interpretation of memory data. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The potential effects of the implanted memory paradigm on child subjects

The purpose of this article is to examine the appropriate use of the implanted memory paradigm with children. In this paradigm, participants are asked repeatedly about fictitious events that never transpired. The responses of children in these investigations demonstrate clearly that they can be led to unintentionally create false memories. This article addresses whether memory research should continue to encourage children to create memories for events that never happened. The literature in other areas of psychology suggests that deception may lessen respect for authority, affect a child's self-esteem, and create stress. We propose that the use of the implanted memory paradigm be suspended indefinitely or until appropriate research demonstrates that the paradigm does not affect children negatively. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.