A study of satisfactions and stresses of single women in midlife

Sixty single women 35 to 65 years old, previously married or never married, were interviewed about the satisfactions and stresses of the single status. Respondents were categorized as having high, medium, or low life satisfaction. Life satisfaction was found to be significantly correlated to such factors as good health, not being lonely, living with a female housemate, having many casual friends, and being invested in work. Half the women mentioned having sexual needs, which were or were not fulfilled. The other half stated that they did not have sexual needs. These two groups did not differ in life satisfaction. Regrets about not having had children occurred in one-quarter of the childless women, without necessarily implying low life satisfaction. Only 15% of the entire sample had low life satisfaction, a percentage similar to that found in the general population.The authors wish to express sincere appreciation to George Loewenstein for his aid with the computer analysis of the data.     

Left-handedness and achievements in foreign language studies

Studies of brain lateralization lend support to the hypothesis that language-motor functions in left-handers are differently organized from those in right-handers. However, the implications of these differences regarding cognitive functioning are as yet subject to controversy. This concerns all hypotheses raised and empirical data collected over the years. Although it was suggested that left-handers are at higher risk of having language and reading deficits, empirical data from clinical and nonclinical populations are inconclusive at the present time. No effort, however, has been invested in examining possible differences in academic studies of foreign languages according to handedness. Here we report data indicating inferior achievements of left-handed native Hebrew speakers in studies of English as a foreign language. Left-handed pupils significantly more than right-handers were placed in lower level English classes and had more difficulties in applying orthographic-phonological mapping rules in reading English words and pseudowords. However, left-handers' difficulties in this task were not correlated with their performance in a word recognition task. It is thus suggested that the "common symptom" of poor word reading in left-handers indicates different processing failures in different left-handers, some of which impede the buildup of an internal representational system of mapping orthography to phonology and some of which concern mainly the precision of word production.     

The relation of rational and experiential information processing styles to personality, basic beliefs, and the ratio-bias phenomenon.

A new version of the Rational-Experiential Inventory (REI), which measures rational and experiential thinking styles and includes subscales of self-reported ability and engagement, was examined in two studies. In Study 1, the two main scales were independent, and they and their subscales exhibited discriminant validity and contributed to the prediction of a variety of measures beyond the contribution of the Big Five scales. A rational thinking style was most strongly and directly related to Ego Strength, Openness, Conscientiousness, and favorable basic beliefs about the self and the world, and it was most strongly inversely related to Neuroticism and Conservatism. An experiential thinking style was most strongly directly related to Extraversion, Agreeableness, Favorable Relationships Beliefs, and Emotional Expressivity, and it was most strongly inversely related to Categorical Thinking, Distrust of Others, and Intolerance. In Study 2, a rational thinking style was inversely related and an experiential thinking style was unrelated to nonoptimal responses in a game of chance. It was concluded that the new REI is a significant improvement over the previous version and measures unique aspects of personality.     

Behavioral economic analysis of activity choice in obese children

Evaluated children's choice for sedentary versus vigorous activity. Experiment 1 assessed the influence of percent overweight (less than 20%, 20% to 80%, greater than 80%) on choice of a moderately liked vigorous activity at a constant variable ratio (VR) 2 reinforcement schedule versus a highly liked sedentary activity with the schedule varied from VR2 to VR32. All children chose the sedentary choice when the schedules were VR2. As the cost for sedentary activity increased, lean and moderately obese children switched to the vigorous activity, but the very obese children still chose the sedentary activity. Experiment 2 compared moderately obese children's choice between easily accessible, highly or least liked vigorous activities (VR2) and highly liked sedentary activity with the schedule varied from VR2 through VR16. When the reinforcement schedules were equal, and sedentary activity and vigorous activity were rated as equally linked, children chose the sedentary activity. All subjects switched from the sedentary to the vigorous activity, but there were no differences in choice as a function of liking for vigorous activities.     

Effects of Acute Experimental Crowding1

Recent concern with population growth has begun to stimulate interest in the effect of crowding on humans. This report presents a model of crowding based on the concept of normative expectations concerning appropriate interaction distances. A study of acute experimental crowding was then conducted. Contrary to findings of prior research, the present study found that crowding produced arousal. Subsequent social behavior, however, was mediated by different sex-specific group processes. In general, crowded male groups displayed a competitive, fragmented orientation, whereas crowded women formed cohesive, cooperative groups. Contrary to preliminary expectations, subjects were differentially effected by crowding based on their seating position in the crowded room.     

Comparison of stimulus control and reinforcement control effects on imitative behavior

An attempt was made to evaluate reinforcement and stimulus control of imitative and non-imitative behavior. The imitative response required the subject to duplicate the experimenter's response by matching blocks that varied in color. The factor designed to evaluate stimulus control was fading, a procedure that systematically varies the differences between the imitative and non-imitative stimuli. The topography and duration of the non-imitative stimuli were faded in. The factors designed to evaluate reinforcement control were differential reinforcement of non-imitative behavior and time out from positive reinforcement. The results showed stimulus control of non-imitation to be more important than reinforcement control, and that reinforcing events were not sufficient to control non-imitation; while the arrangement of stimulus events was sufficient to control non-imitation. These results were related to studies providing evidence for the processes of discrimination and generalization.