Apahe Age Groups

Previous communications have indicated that interpretations of Rorschach protocols resultant from testing the Apaches of the Mescalero Indian Reservation produce information which conforms closely to that obtained by standard anthropological and psychoanalytic investigative techniques.

Anthropologic and psychoanalytic observations demonstrate that the effects of acculturation are less disruptive to the personality organization of old-age than of middle-age and young-age Mescalero and Chiracahua Apaches. In the present communication, a comparison is made of Rorschach protocols derived from testing of those three-age groups. The interpretation of those protocols confirms the assumptions based on the anthropological and psychoanalytic observations.     

Gender discrimination may be worse than you think: testing ordinal interactions in power research

The authors reanalyze the data of a study by S. M. Elias and R. J. Loomis (2004), which aimed to determine how an instructor's gender may influence his or her ability to gain student compliance. S. M. Elias and R. J. Loomis observed few significant gender effects using traditional multivariate analyses of variance. The authors reanalyze this data using the more appropriate statistical techniques for detecting ordinal interactions recommended by M. J. Strube and P. Bobko (1989) and S. M. Elias (2004). An ordinal interaction occurs when 1 cell of a 2 x 2 design is responsible for a significant interaction (e.g., female instructors suffering only when rated by male students). Reanalysis of the data resulted in more robust findings.     

Annotations of research and clinical perspectives on cluttering since 1964

In 1964, Deso Weiss published his landmark text Cluttering, after much persuasion by Charles Van Riper to put his thoughts in writing regarding this enigmatic speech and language disorder (Van Riper, personal communication, 1992). To our knowledge, Weiss's book was the only book in English devoted entirely to cluttering. Nearly 30 years later, a second text entitled Cluttering: A Clinical Perspective was published (Myers & St. Louis, 1992). The following annotations summarize nearly all that has been written on cluttering since Weiss's classic publication in 1964.     

A method to analyze the spatial distribution of behavior

This article presents a method comprising an experimental environment, infrared detection system, data collection and processing software, behavior categories, and suggested quantitative analysis methods for studying some spatial properties of behavior. In the chamber, the location of a rat is determined at regular intervals by a 24 × 24 grid of infrared beams; the status of each line used interactively to determine changes in the environment are stored on disk for later analysis. From the status of the receptors, the computer decodes the location of objects in the chamber, and a binary 576-cell matrix is obtained for each sample. The series of matrices allows a number of behavior categories to be defined includingexploration, activity, andtime allocation. Exploration curves and time allocation surfaces are compared using a goodness-of-fit test; activity is assessed with time-series methods. Potential applications to psychological, pharmacological, and ethological research are considered.     

The effect of adrenalectomy on Fos expression in vasopressinergic and oxytocinergic neurons in response to stress in the rat

This study evaluated the responses of vasopressin (AVP) and oxytocin (OT) neurons to alterations in hypothalamo-pituitary axis activity by adrenalectomy (ADX) or after restraint stress compared with basal conditions. Wistar male rats were perfuse-fixed by cardiac perfusion under anesthesia 3 h, 1, 3 and 14 days after ADX or Sham surgery. Coronal hypothalamic sections were used for evaluation of Fos, AVP and OT expression by immunohistochemistry. Under basal conditions and after stress, Fos-AVP double labeling showed no difference in the magnocellular subdivisions of the paraventricular nuclei (PVN) or in the supraoptic nuclei (SON), suggesting that the magnocellular AVP system is unlikely to contribute to ACTH secretion after restraint in both Sham and ADX rats. Fos-AVP double labeling in the parvocellular medial paraventricular nucleus (PaMP) in ADX groups was increased after 3 h in basal conditions, and in all periods after restraint stress. There were no differences between Sham and ADX groups in Fos-OT double labeling in any subdivision of the PVN; however, in the SON, the number of Fos-OT double labeled cells was increased at all time-points after stress in the ADX group. Fos expression was increased in the PaMP after 3 h and after restraint stress in the Sham and ADX groups, especially in the ADX group. In conclusion, Fos expression in different cell populations of the PVN can be differentially regulated by short- and long-term absence of glucocorticoid negative feedback and also by stress-related excitatory and/or inhibitory neural inputs. The Fos-AVP double labeling findings in the PaMP also indicate a minor participation of these vasopressinergic neurons in the regulation of the HPA axis after ADX.     

Cognitive confrontation and avoidance during a naturalistic medical stressor

This study was undertaken to shed some light on problems that have arisen in measuring cognitive confrontation (monitoring) and cognitive avoidance (blunting) with a self-report questionnaire, the Miller Behavioral Style Scale (MBSS; Miller, 1987). For this purpose, variants of both coping styles were studied in a naturalistic setting: 37 women who underwent prenatal diagnosis were interviewed at home about their ways of coping with different stages of the procedure, a few days before they expected the diagnostic results. Interview fragments pertaining to cognitive confrontation and avoidance were selected and analysed by two investigators in order to generate categories of avoidance and confrontation coping strategies. For some of the fragments, inter judge reliability was assessed using new judges. A comparison between the categories found and the kinds of items used in the MBSS shows that in real life more coping variants occur than those represented in the MBSS, in particular variants that involve a combination of cognitive confrontation and avoidance. Implications for the dimensionality of both concepts and for their measurement are discussed.     

Test-Taker Reactions to the Selection Process: Effects of Outcome Favorability, Explanations, and Voice on Fairness Perceptions

This study examined the effects of providing an explanation and voice on fairness perceptions and reactions of test takers under favorable and unfavorable selection decisions. Participants took either a cognitive ability test or an overt integrity test in a simulated selection situation. Then, the voice manipulation was introduced. Participants were informed of the hiring decision with or without an explanation. Results showed that type of test had effects on procedural fairness perceptions such that these reactions were more positive when a cognitive ability test was used. The results of voice and explanation manipulations on fairness perceptions indicated that providing an explanation had a positive effect on perceptions but, surprisingly, face-validity perceptions were less favorable when participants had voice opportunity.