Comparative Suggestibility in the Trance and Waking States—a Further Study

A Wherry hierarchial factor analysis was performed on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children subtest scores for 90 disadvantaged white and black boys and girls, ages 10 to 11 years, whose full scale IQs ranged from 80 to 95. A hierarchial arrangement of abilities congruent with Vernon's structure of intellectual theory was obtained. The obtained arrangement consisted of two factors defined as a verbal factor equivalent to v:ed and a performance factor equivalent to k:m. The factor structure remained stable across age groups, and similar factors were exhibited by both ethnic groups. The factors found in the present study support early findings which suggest that the WISC Verbal and Performance subtests are not functionally pure.     

Normal and Exceptional Children's Attitudes Toward Themselves and one Another

In this study 65 junior high school boys and girls (54 normal and 11 exceptional children) evaluated themselves most favorably, normal children as a group less favorably, and exceptional children as a group least favorably of all on the Personal Attribute Inventory for Children. This was so regardless of whether the respondents were normal or exceptional children. Since data were collected from mainstreamed classrooms, it appears that mainstreaming may not be directly deleterious to exceptional children's self-concepts, but has associated with it a negative stigma for exceptional children as a group for both exceptional and normal children. These findings, plus others reported previously, fail to demonstrate that mainstreaming in its present form may be an elixir for exceptional children's social-emotional difficulties.     

Emotional approach and problem-focused coping: A comparison of potentially adaptive strategies

This study examined for whom and under what circumstances emotional-approach coping and problem-focused coping are differentially more effective. Eighty-nine participants identified a current stressful situation and then were randomly assigned to either: (a) write for 15 minutes about their feelings (emotional-approach coping); or (b) write about how to solve their problem (problem-focused coping). Participants also completed a self-report measure that assessed how they coped during the two weeks after the exercise. Coping effectiveness was assessed by measuring positive affect, negative affect, and physical symptoms. Dimensions of emotional processing (e.g., clarity and attention to emotions) were assessed using self-report. Gender, type of stressful event (interpersonal vs. achievement), and individual differences in emotional processing moderated the effect of type of coping on positive affect.     

Prime time news: The influence of primed positive and negative emotion on susceptibility to false memories

We examined the relation between emotion and susceptibility to misinformation using a novel paradigm, the ambiguous stimuli affective priming (ASAP) paradigm. Participants (N = 88) viewed ambiguous neutral images primed either at encoding or retrieval to be interpreted as either highly positive or negative (or neutral/not primed). After viewing the images, they either were asked misleading or non-leading questions. Following a delay, memory accuracy for the original images was assessed. Results indicated that any emotional priming at encoding led to a higher susceptibility to misinformation relative to priming at recall. In particular, inducing a negative interpretation of the image at encoding led to an increased susceptibility of false memories for major misinformation (an entire object not actually present in the scene). In contrast, this pattern was reversed when priming was used at recall; a negative reinterpretation of the image decreased memory distortion relative to unprimed images. These findings suggest that, with precise experimental control, the experience of emotion at event encoding, in particular, is implicated in false memory susceptibility.     

Within-person variations in self-focused attention and negative affect in depression and anxiety: A diary study

This study examined within-person co-occurrence of self-focus, negative affect, and stress in a community sample of adolescents with or without emotional disorders. As part of a larger study, 278 adolescents were interviewed about emotional disorders. Later, they completed diary measures over three days, six times a day, reporting their current thoughts, affect, and levels of stress. Negative affect was independently related to both concurrent stress and self-focus. Importantly, the association between negative affect and self-focus was stronger among participants with a recent unipolar mood disorder, compared to those with an anxiety disorder, comorbid anxiety and depression, or those without an emotional disorder. The implications of these findings to theories of self-focus and its role in emotional disorders are discussed.     

African American students' ratings of Caucasian and African American counselors varying in racial consciousness

African American college students (63 female, 30 male) rated vignettes of counselors varying in racial consciousness (high vs. low) and race (African American vs. Caucasian). Participants then completed a counselor rating scale and the Racial Identity Attitude Scale (Short Form; T. A. Parham & J. E. Helms, 1981). African American counselors were rated more favorably than White counselors, and high racially conscious counselors were rated more favorably than low racially conscious counselors. The African American counselor with high racial consciousness was rated the most favorably. Several significant correlations were found between participants' racial identity attitudes and their ratings of counselors. Implications for the training of both African American and White counselors are considered.     

Anxiety sensitivity: association with intensity of retrospectively-rated smoking-related withdrawal symptoms and motivation to quit

The present cross-sectional study evaluated the associations between anxiety sensitivity, intensity of retrospectively-rated nicotine withdrawal symptoms, and motivation to quit smoking. Participants were 127 young adult (mean age 20.4 years (SD 4.6)) regular smokers (mean cigarettes per day 10.2 (SD 5.1)). Anxiety sensitivity predicted intensity of retrospectively rated withdrawal symptoms during the first week of the most recent quit attempt as well as concurrent and lifetime indices of motivation to quit smoking even after controlling for theoretically-relevant smoking (e.g. nicotine dependence) and affect (e.g. panic attack history) factors. These results are discussed in relation to better understanding panic-related vulnerability factors in smoking cessation.     

Protecting threatened identity: sticking with the group by emphasizing ingroup heterogeneity

In two studies (Ns=163, 164), the authors tested the prediction that perceptions of group variability can steer and guide the way that loyalty is expressed in times of identity threat. In both studies, participants were classified as lower or higher identifiers on the basis of their scores on a group identification measure, and manipulations involved group variability perceptions (homogeneous ingroup vs. heterogeneous ingroup) and threat to the ingroup. Higher identifiers presented with a homogeneous ingroup perceived more ingroup homogeneity under threat than when there was no threat. In contrast, higher identifiers who perceived the ingroup initially as heterogeneous perceived more ingroup heterogeneity under threat than in no threat conditions. Lower identifiers perceived more ingroup heterogeneity under threat (vs. no threat) irrespective of manipulated group variability perceptions. Discussion focuses on different ways that group loyalty can be expressed in times of identity threat.     

Eye-hand interactions in tracing and drawing tasks

We report a preliminary analysis of the interactions between eye and hand during tracing and drawing of four simple shapes. Eye and hand movements were recorded using the ASL 504 system and the Flock of Birds system, respectively. During tracing, pen tip and eye were tightly coupled, with participants making a series of small saccades just in front of the moving pen, interspersed with periods of smooth pursuit. During drawing, saccades were fewer and larger and pursuit was less frequent. Observed eye-hand interactions suggested a bidirectional relationship between the eye and hand. These findings are explained in terms of the differing degree that the two tasks employ visual detail, external or internal cues and eye-hand coordination.     

Memory for frequency of bizarre and common stimuli: limitations of the automaticity hypothesis

In 2 experiments, the influence of intention to process frequency on accuracy of memory for frequency of bizarre and common sentences was investigated. The results from multiple regression analyses indicated that intentional processing increased the accuracy of frequency judgments when memory for frequency was tested after a 2-min (Experiment 1) and after a 48-hr (Experiment 2) retention interval. Furthermore, the results of Experiment 2 indicated that unintentional processors tended to overestimate frequencies of bizarre relative to common items after a delay. The implications of the results are discussed with regard to L. Hasher and R. T. Zacks's (1984) automaticity hypothesis, human performance, and the accuracy of judgments of frequency of occurrence of unusual events.