Affect and retrieval of personal memories

The relationship of pleasantness and intensity of affect to retrieval of reallife experiences was investigated in three experiments. Subjects reported the first specific personal experience that came to mind for a series of prompt words. Latency of report was regarded as a measure of memory accessibility. The first study compared retrieval time for prompts that sampled affects varying in pleasantness and intensity. Experiments II and III assessed the possible contributions of demand characteristics and implicit inferential processes to retrospective judgments of feelings. Judgments of the intensity of feeling engendered when the events occurred were inversely related to report latency. Results support the conclusion that intensity ratings were reliable indices of memory information rather than inferences or reconstructions mediated by report latency. Other characteristics of recollections such as pleasantness, recency, or relative frequency of the specific affects were not correlated with report latency. Two explanations of the findings are considered: an arousal hypothesis and an extent-of-processing hypothesis. The latter provides the most adequate account and relates the present findings to a more general theory of memory processes. The results are also relevant to investigations of mood-dependent retrieval.This is an expanded version of a paper presented in the Symposium on Naturally Occurring Memories, at the meeting of the American Psychological Association, Toronto, August 1978.     

The new experimental aesthetics—The beginning or the end?

In reference to recent work in aesthetics from a scientific perspective, Berlyne coined the phrase the new experimental aesthetics. Berlyne's contributions to this research area are discussed in terms of the philosophical, theoretical, and methodological issues central to the current literature. The paper concludes with a consideration of the future prospects for experimental aesthetics.This paper was presented at a symposium in honor of Daniel E. Berlyne at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, San Francisco, August 27, 1977. The presentation of this paper was supported by a grant from York University.     

Perceptions of helpfulness and behavior in groups

Before, midway, and late in a 50-hour small group experience, 28 persons separately and subjectively appraised the helpfulness of 60 items representing Yalom's (1975) 12 curative factors of group psychotherapy. Items from the catharsis and interpersonal learning factors proved highly and increasingly helpful, despite their poor internal consistency. Item helpfulness also linked to members' ingroup behavior, as measured by peer ratings of acceptance-rejection of self and others. (Hurley, 1976). Persons more accepting of self and others regarded family reenactment items as more helpful, and advice and guidance items as less helpful, than did members who were more rejecting of self and others.     

Soteriological dimensions in the work of Heinz Kohut

A framework of theological inquiry is utilized to illuminate soteriological dimensions implicit in Heinz Kohut's psychology of the self as expressed in his most recent work,The Restoration of the Self. Kohut's new formulations involve the unfolding of a saving approach that through its broad application seeks to overcome “the psychological danger that puts the psychological survival of modern Western man into the greatest jeopardy.” The theological inquiry employed asks: What is the essential nature of man? How has man fallen away from his essential self? By what means is he to be saved from his broken condition? Kohut's implicit and explicit “answers” are summarized by dealing with four cardinal issues in his book: definitions of the self: the relationship of a psychology of the self to other psychologies; theory concerning the selfs structure, development, and restoration; and the centrality of the empathic response.     

Ethical issues and the family doctor

Issues recognized as having ethical or moral components are becoming increasingly common, for society in general, the health care system and for general practitioner/family physicians in particular. Some of the peculiar problems for GP's relate to the provision of continuing, comprehensive, primary medical care to large numbers of individuals who provide extensive potential for conflict between all the involved elements: patients, physicians, families, consultants and societal attitudes. There is a need for more formal education programs.     

The effect of alcohol on male aggression toward female targets

This study attempted to determine the effects of alcohol, verbal provocation, and target strategy on male aggression toward female targets. Intoxicated and nonintoxicated male research participants competed with a female confederate in a reaction time task designed to measure aggression. Intoxicated participants responded more aggressively than did nonintoxicated participants. Verbal provocation had no effect on participants' aggressive response. Effects of target strategy and trial outcome lent support to a cognitive disorganization interpretation of the effect of alcohol on aggression.     

Evaluation of the relative effectiveness of methylphenidate and cognitive behavior modification in the treatment of kindergarten-aged hyperactive children

This study of kindergarten-aged hyperactive children evaluated the effects of three modes of treatment in relation to an untreated control group. The treatments were administered over a 3-month period and included cognitive behavior modification, methylphenidate, and the two treatments combined. A follow-up assessment was done approximately 1 year later at the end of the first grade. Analyses of psychological, rating scale observational, and interview data showed that hyperactive children became less symptomatic over time;the data did not provide evidence indicating that any of the treatments studied was more effective than any other or than no treatment at all.This research was supported by grants from the Ontario Mental Health Foundation (Grant No. 701-76/78) and The Hospital for Sick Children Foundation (Grant No. 77-22). The authors wish to thank Mr. Syl Sauro, of the Etobicoke Board of Education, and Mrs. M. Stijovic, of the Etobicoke Community Health Department, for their cooperation.     

A two-year follow-up study of a preventive mental health program for preschoolers

The long-term effects of a preschool intervention program for high-risk experimental children were assessed and compared to a high-risk placebo control group and low-risk normal controls. Seventy first-grade children were involved in this 2-year follow-up. The experimental treatment group was superior to that of the placebo control group at follow-up on the criteria measures of behavioral adjustment and achievement. The low-risk normal control group was significantly different from that of the placebo control groups, but generally not significantly different from that of the experimental groups, suggesting that the intervention had boosted the high-risk experimental treatment children to the point where their performance was comparable to that of children who had not experienced behavioral or learning difficulties.The study was supported by grants from the McGregor Fund and the Eloise and Richard Webber Foundation, and by the Detroit Public Schools, for which the authors express grateful appreciation. A version of this paper was presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association, New York, September 1979.