Psychosocial Dimensions of Student Athletes: Implications for Developmental Studies

This article takes as its point of departure the enrollment in U.S. colleges of many highly skilled athletes who are severely lacking academically, and argues that remedial success could be maximized if practitioners in developmental studies programs better understand the unique psychosocial dimensions of the student athlete.     

Teenage Fathers: A Profile

In this century both the literature and social programs devoted to adolescent pregnancy have focused almost exclusively on the female. This article presents a profile of teenage fathers by reviewing the scant literature that is available. The authors make specific recommendations for counselors on the basis of this review.     

Spontaneous configuring to a tone-light compound using appetitive training

Rats were trained to bar-press for water in the presence of a simultaneous compound tone-light stimulus using a discrete-trial procedure. Different groups were given between 300 and 3900 trials. When subsequently tested in extinction, all rats showed consistent levels of responding to the compound stimulus but responding to the tone and light components declined as a function of number of training trials. This is a demonstration of spontaneous configuring. Two other experiments showed that with similar procedures generalization from a component of the training stimulus to other values on the same continuum decreases with increased training with the compound stimulus. It was concluded that configuring and generalization from a single stimulus involve the same processes.     

Delay or rate of food delivery as determiners of response rate

Pigeons were confronted with two keys: a green food key and a white changeover key. Food became available for a peck to the green key after variable intervals of time (mean = 113 seconds). A single peck on the changeover key changed the color of the food key to red for a fixed period of time during which the timing of the variable-interval schedule in green was suspended and the switching option eliminated and after which the conditions associated with green were reinstated. In Experiment 1 a single food presentation was obtainable during each red-key period after a minimum delay timed from the switch. This delay and the duration of the red-key period were held constant during a condition but varied between conditions (delay = 2.5, 7.5, 15, or 30 seconds; red-period duration = 30, 60, 120, 240, or 480 seconds). In Experiment 2 additional food presentations were scheduled during a 240-second red-key period with the delay to the first food delivery held constant at 30 seconds, and the delays to later food deliveries varied over conditions. Considering the data from both experiments, the rate of switching to red was a decreasing function of the delay to the first food, the delay to the second food, and perhaps the delay to the third food after a switch. There was no clear evidence that the rate of food in the red-key period made an independent contribution. The ordering of response rates among conditions was consistent with the view that each food presentation after a response adds an incremental effect to the rate of the response and that each food presentation's contribution is a decreasing function of its delay timed from the response.     

Factor structure of the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale for an institutionalized, disabled population

Separate factor analyses of responses to the Tennessee Self-concept Scale using item and scale data are reported for a sample of 255 disabled veterans. A global self-satisfaction factor and several subsidiary factors roughly approximate the external dimension of the scale. The internal dimension interacts with the external one in defining several factors but does not emerge as an independent dimension. Scale data yield a self-esteem factor incorporating both external and internal scales and a self-concept conflict-integration factor. The evidence supports the external dimension more than the internal dimension. The findings are consistent with previous studies that have not validated the two-dimensional design of the scale.     

Manager behavior in a social context: the impact of impression management on attributions and disciplinary actions

Two experimental studies were run to test the effects of subordinate impression management on the appraisals and responses of a manager, following an incident of poor performance. Two common impression management tactics, accounts and apologies, were manipulated in each of the studies. Subjects in both studies were experienced nursing supervisors. On the basis of the "discounting effect" reported in the attributional literature it was hypothesized that accounts of external causes for poor performance, i.e., excuses, would lead subjects to (1) attribute less responsibility to the subordinate, (2) be less personal in their responses, and (3) be less punitive in their responses. Apologies, because of their "equity restoration" effects, were expected to influence subjects' disciplinary responses to the poor performance, without necessarily affecting their attributions of responsibility. Experiment 1. which employed written stimulus materials and a repeated-measures design, provided strong support for all hypotheses. Experiment 2. which employed a film stimulus and between-subjects design, provided strong support for the accounts hypotheses but only minimal support for the apology hypotheses. The results highlight the importance of social information cues in the appraisal of performance.     

Some implications of Jewish marriage philosophy for marital breakdown

A clarification of some of the roots of marital breakdown is sought through examining the love relationship in Viktor Frankl's logotherapy and its theological counterparts in Judaism. Frankl's implicit ethic of self-transcendence coincides with Judaism's view of the married state as shared destiny. Together these call into question the ethic of self-fulfillment which appears to underlie much marital distress.Dr. Bulka is Rabbi of Congregation Machzikei Hadas in Ottawa, Ontario, and Editor of theJournal of Psychology and Judaism. His address is: 1747 Featherston Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1H 6P4.     

Hypothetical speech: A developmental perspective

The definitional responses on standardized tests of 49 children, ages 3–15, give evidence of a transitional stage in defining which is called hypothetical. Definitions of this stage are indicated by hypothetical markers. Five hypothetical markers are described briefly and one,like, in greater detail. The relationship oflike to taxonomic conceptual structure and to synonymy is stressed. The roles oflike in language development, logical inference, and communication are discussed.