A note on stability in force applied to control a repetitive task with the legs

The forces applied to pedals during cycling were collected every 40 ms from approximately 29,000 movement repetitions. Intra-cycle mean values of force and its variability were significantly correlated, supporting Schmidt's impulse variability theory of within-movement activities of the legs. In addition, as mean forces approached peak values, coefficients of variation decreased. From averages taken minute by minute, intra-cycle forces were seen to rise or fall in concert, implying that the pattern as a whole constituted a significant neuro-muscular unit of control.     

Family size and delinquency

A review of the literature shows that large family size is related to greater delinquency. The relationship remains when a number of variables, i.e., income, socioeconomic status, parental criminality, and family composition, have been controlled. The higher birth rate for lower classes does not appear to be an adequate explanation for this relationship, nor does less close parent-child affectional ties or less parental supervision although all of these may have some influence. The presence of an "infectious example" may partly account for the relationship, as does overcrowding. Large family size is typically associated with the constellation of undesirable family conditions involving poor role models (e.g., poor parental behaviour, parental criminality, sibling delinquency), poor child-rearing practices (e.g., inadequate parental supervision and discipline), and competition for physical (e.g., overcrowding, low income) and psychological (e.g., lack of attention, affection, family interaction) resources. An immediate solution is to reduce the size of families by helping prospective parents plan their families, and for those who wish it, making medical abortions more readily available. The long-range solution is through research to identify variables which significantly influence the relationship between family size and delinquency. Such studies must control for birth order, sibling spacing, siblings' sex, and sex of the delinquents in these families.     

Franz Joseph Gall and Johann Kaspar Spurzheim--forerunners of biological psychiatry

Gall (1758-1828) and Spurzheim (1776-1832) were among those who developed the basic ideas of biological psychiatry. They attempted to identify a relationship between the structure and function of the brain. Although this led to speculation regarding physiognosis, it simultaneously represented a decisive step towards a scientific approach in psychiatry, which was then in its infancy. The patient was freed of gult. Mental illnesses were considered to be healable, because they were of organic origin, and this led to therapeutic optimism. The emphasis placed on endogenic factors, however, nourished biologistic views.     

Mitigating the imitation of aggressive behaviors by changing children's attitudes about media violence

A sample of 169 first- and third-grade children, selected because of their high exposure to television violence, was randomly divided into an experimental and a control group. Over the course of 2 years, the experimental subjects were exposed to two treatments designed to reduce the likelihood of their imitating the aggressive behaviors they observed on TV. The control group received comparable neutral treatments. By the end of the second year, the experimental subjects were rated as significantly less aggressive by their peers, and the relation between violence viewing and aggressiveness was diminished in the experimental group.     

Assessing multiple facets of gender identity: the gender identity questionnaire.

314 men and 451 women participated in a study to assess the reliability and validity of the multifaceted Gender Identity Questionnaire. Reliability coefficients of the (sub)scales varied between .67 and .80; content, criterion, and construct validity were satisfactory.     

A supplementary behavioral program to improve deficient reading performance

A behavioral program was designed to deal with certain skill and attentional problems of a group of below-grade-level readers. Fourteen 7–12-year-old problem readers were already enrolled in an on-campus behavioral tutoring program. From This group, seven Ss (experimental group) were placed into the supplementary program, which basically consisted of a point system to reward attention to and identification of letter and word combinations. The remaining seven problem readers (yoked-control group) were given the same materials but without a specific task or reinforcement. After seven to ten 30-minute sessions over a 7-week period, the experimental group had improved significantly more than had the control group, based on a comparison of standardized reading test scores.This study was supported by grant OEG-2-2-2 BO24 from the National Institute of Education.Valuable assistance was provided by Sandra Armel, Steve Rayack, Betty White, and Al Castaldi, of the State University of New York at Stony Brook.     

GENERALIZATIONS ABOUT GENERALIZATION: HOW A THEORY OF SKILL DEVELOPMENT EXPLAINS BOTH GENERALITY AND SPECIFICITY*

Within a skill-theory framework, the traditional opposition between generalization and specificity is resolved. Neither generalization nor specificity is considered the normal state. Instead, they are both phenomena that can be predicted and explained in terms of skill structures and functional mechanisms of development or learning. A person acquires a skill in a specific context and must work to gradually extend it to other contexts. Within a task domain and across related domains, a set of structural transformations predict the order of generalization of the skill. Range of generalization of a given skill at a point in time varies widely across people and situations as a function of specified functional mechanisms. Generalization is maximized when (a) tasks are similar and familiar, (b) the environment provides opportunities for practice and support, (c) the person has had time to consolidate skills at the relevant developmental level, and (d) he or she is intelligent and in an emotional state facilitative of the particular skill. True generalization must be distinguished from optimal-level synchrony, where new capacities emerge across domains as a new developmental level emerges.