Our existential dilemma:Bor orBe'er

An evaluation is made of the choices available to individuals in dealing with their essential alone-ness, the existential dilemma; and a parallel is drawn between these choices and flowing and stagnant waters, as interpreted by traditional sources.     

When two memories can and cannot be retrieved concurrently

We examined whether two memories can be retrieved concurrently from long-term memory. In Experiment 1, the subjects recalled words, either from two categories—alternating between the two—or from just one category. In Experiment 2, the subjects recalled two words belonging to either the same category or different categories, and the category prompts for these two responses appeared either simultaneously or successively. The results of both studies are consistent with the view that two items from different categories must be retrieved serially, whereas two items from the same category can be retrieved in parallel.     

Overlapping mental operations in serial performance with preview

Dual-task research has revealed a response-selection bottleneck: response selection cannot occur simultaneously in two different tasks, though perceptual processing may overlap response selection (Welford, 1952; Pashler & Johnston, 1989). In serial performance with preview, the same task is performed repeatedly, but stimuli are available well before response. Does the dual-task bottleneck limit the rate of responding in this situation, despite the fact that task set need not change? Four experiments examined manual responses to letters, varying stimulus preview. Preview increased RTs for the first response and reduced the subsequent inter-response intervals (IRIs). Preview also reduced the effect of visual intensity and response duration on IRIs, whereas effects of stimulus-response mapping variables were unchanged. These results indicate that the response-selection bottleneck limits serial performance, just as it limits concurrent performance of two unrelated tasks. This implies that the response-selection bottleneck is not caused by the need to switch task set.     

Traumatization of group leaders in their work with displaced persons

Displaced persons are a special, threatened group of people, participants in this war, who were suddenly forced to abandon their homes. The majority of them were, overnight, left without anything they had, some even without their closest family. They all have one thing in common: they have all lost so much. Work with such people is directed toward overcoming their feelings of loss and abandonment and preventing psychical decompensation. Groups of displaced persons temporarily sheltered in the Rijeka region have been observed to be markedly regressed, with increased sensitivity, a low degree of tolerance, great demands on society and strongly expressed projective tendencies. Therapists suffer personal traumatization in working with displaced persons. This paper describes the reactions and feelings of group leaders caused by manifestations of group dynamics in different phases of exile.     

Memory for a dialectical and a nondialectical prose passage in young and older adults

Age differences in adults' processing of a dialectical or nondialectical prose passage were explored. Twenty young and 20 older adults read a dialectical or mechanistic passage and were tested for free recall and recognition after a 30-min delay (filled with vocabulary and paradigm belief scale). Older (vs. young) adults had significantly lower formistic and mechanistic scores and showed greater relative preference for relativistic and dialectical beliefs (paradigm scale). There were no age differences in amount of free recall or number of correct responses (hits) on recognition, but older adults produced more spontaneous dialectical distortions in recall of the mechanistic passage and more paradigm-congruent false alarms on recognition. There was also a move from absolute toward dialectical thinking on the paradigm scale and, among males, on the recognition measure. Dialectical scores (paradigm scale) were positively correlated, and mechanistic scores negatively correlated, with number of dialectical distortions on free recall (mechanistic passage), while dialectical scores were positively correlated with number of dialectical false alarms (dialectical passage).     

Divided attention: Storing and classifying briefly presented objects

Although in many studies divided attention has been examined by having people perform the same task (e.g., report or search) with a large number of objects, in few studies have people had to perform two logically independent tasks involving the same brief display. In two experiments, subjects saw 200-msec arrays of characters. In dual-task blocks, theyclassified the color of some or all of the items (making an immediate response) andstored the shape of some of the items for a later recognition test. There was not much mutual interference between classifying and storing per se. However, the tasks were by no means independent: there was substantial interference whendifferent objects from the array had to be stored for one task and classified for the other. The results confirm that wholly unrelated visual tasks depend on the same input-attention system and suggest that attending to an object for any purpose may entail storing a representation of it in visual short-term memory.     

Intelligence,classroom behavior,and academic achievement in children at high and low risk for psychopathology: A structural equation analysis

The intelligence, academic achievement, and classroom behavior of 158 children were assessed in a sample that is being followed longitudinally. The sample included children at high risk for mental disorder by virtue of having a parent with a psychiatric diagnosis of schizophrenia or affective disorder, children at moderate risk, and children at low risk, A series of path analyses indicated that in this sample (1) classroom behavior was more likely an affect than a cause of academic achievement, and (2) the influence of parental psychopathology on classroom behavior was mediated by a child's intelligence and academic achievement. We were unable to substantiate an unmediated causal link between parental psychopathology and children's academic achievement or classroom behavior.This research was supported by National Institute of Mental Health Grant MH 24819 to Drs. E. J. Anthony and J. Worland. The authors appreciate the help of the entire Harry Edison Child Development Research Center staff, especially Janet Penniman, Steven Finn, Harriet Lander, Arlene Stiffman, Victor Hesselbrock, Darcy Gilpin, Janice Hensiek, and Crisanne Roberts. Special thanks are expressed to Myra Ferrel and Alice Woods for making arrangements with the schools. Our gratitude is expressed to the principals, counselors, and teachers of the St. Louis area schools and to the children and families who participated in this effort.     

Competitive behavior: A manifestation of motivation for ability comparison

Social comparison theory predicts that when the person is uncertain about the level of his ability, he may seek comparison information through competitive behavior. This derivation, however, has never been directly tested. An experiment is reported in which the level of the subject's uncertainty about his competence was manipulated and subsequent measures of his competitive motivation and behavior were obtained. The data indicate that higher levels of uncertainty do lead to higher levels of motivation and competition, but only under conditions that minimize threat to self-esteem.     

Extending the temporal range of psychometric prediction by optimal linear filtering of mental test scores

Incorporating temporal decline in predictive validity into mental testing theory is outlined. Starting from multivariate regression of criterion on repeated measurements, an analytic extension results in a weighting function for repeated measurements, replacing the beta weights. Besides optimizing, the procedure permits an evaluation of any particular prognosis setting: In cases of exponentially declining predictive validity, prognostic range can be extended if concurrent validity is nonperfect by optimal weighting (predictive filtering) of repeated measurements. Considerable gain in prognostic range over the traditional approach can be achieved if predictive validity declines concavely downwards.This work was supported by grant Dr 58/3 from Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.