Evaluation of subclinical depression in children using self-, peer-, and teacher-report measures

This study reports on several classification issues utilizing the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI), the Child Behavior Checklist-Teacher Form (CBCL-T), and the Peer Nomination Inventory of Depression (PNID). The first sample contained 752 public school children in grades 5, 6, and 9. A second sample of 142 fifth-graders was included to have an additional PNID comparison group. Results revealed moderate correlations between the CDI and the CBCL-T and PNID. Use of multiple criteria for selecting children as depressed was discussed, and selection rates using multiple measures with either strict or lenient cutoff scores were given. Normative data on the PNID were evaluated, and it was suggested that norms for the PNID may not be generalizable to other samples. Finally, race and gender analyses showed that CDI scores for females were significantly higher than for males, whereas CDI scores for Hispanics were significantly higher than for non-Hispanic whites. However, Omega-squared analyses for these two variables showed this to be of little practical significance.     

Practice effects in backward masking

In two experiments we demonstrate that much larger practice effects occur in a backward masking paradigm where patterned masks are used than in similar visual processing paradigms, such as lateral masking and whole report. In additional experiments we examine four possible explanations for the large practice effects: increased familiarity with the paradigm in general, learning about the targets, learning about the masks, and enhanced sensory processing. Because of failure to observe similar practice effects in related paradigms not involving backward masking and because of the sustained nature of the improvement, we reject the first explanation as a source of practice effect. Experiment 3 allowed us to reject target learning as a source of improvement as well; target sets were switched at the end of training, but no decrement in performance was observed. In Experiment 4, mask sets were switched at the end of training, revealing a significant decrement in performance. Learning about the specific masks, then, does contribute to the observed improvement. However, it is responsible for only about one third of the overall improvement in performance. The final experiment provides evidence that the residual improvement is due to enhanced sensory processing. In that experiment, training on backward masking led to a lowered threshold in a two-flash paradigm but not to a significant change in whole-report performance.     

The psychophysiology of confession: linking inhibitory and psychosomatic processes

A theory of inhibition and psychosomatic disease suggests that the failure to confide traumatic events is stressful and associated with long-term health problems. We investigated the short-term autonomic correlates of disclosing personal and traumatic experiences among two samples of healthy undergraduates. In Experiment 1, subjects talked into a tape recorder about extremely stressful events that had occurred in their lives, as well as what they planned to do following the experiment. Skin conductance, blood pressure, and heart rate were continuously measured. Based on judges' ratings of subjects' depth of disclosure, subjects were classified as high or low disclosers. Talking about traumatic events was associated with decreased behavioral inhibition, as measured by lower skin conductance levels among high disclosers. Disclosing traumatic material was also associated with increased cardiovascular activity. In Experiment 2, subjects both talked aloud and thought about a traumatic event and about plans for the day. Half of the subjects were alone in an experimental cubicle and talked into a tape recorder; the remaining subjects talked to a silent "confessor" who sat behind a curtain. Among high disclosers, both talking and thinking about traumatic events produced lower skin conductance levels than did thinking or talking about plans for the day. The presence of a confessor inhibited subjects' talking. Implications for understanding the nature of confession and the development of an inhibitory model for psychosomatic processes are discussed.     

Effects of preexisting and manipulated self-efficacy on weight loss in a self-control program

The present study was designed to investigate the effects of self-efficacy on weight loss utilizing self-control techniques. Subjects high and low in preexisting self-efficacy were randomly assigned to high or low manipulated self-efficacy groups in a 2 × 2 (preexisting self-efficacy × manipulated self-efficacy) factorial design. Preexisting self-efficacy was assessed using procedures employed byBandura and Adams (1977, Cognitive Therapy and Research, 1, 287–308). Selfefficacy was manipulated by having subjects attribute successful task performance to a previously unrecognized capacity for self-control. Subjects met in groups once a week for a total of 8 weeks and received a comprehensive weight control program within the context of self-control. Results indicated significant manipulated and preexisting × trials interactions with both the high manipulated and preexisting self-efficacy groups losing more weight over the 8 weeks than the low preexisting and manipulated groups. In addition, locus of control was predictive of weight loss, with internals tending to lose more weight than externals. Results are discussed in terms of Bandura's (1977, Psychological Review, 84, 191–215) theory of self-efficacy.     

Effects of age on novelty reactions and exploration in rats

Female rats of three ages (approximately 39, 160 and 316 days) were individually observed in an exploration box which consisted of a novel and a familiar half. By means of a behaviour-sampling technique it was recorded which half of the box the rat was in and what sort of activity it was engaged in at the end of each of 90 10-sec. periods. The number of 8 × 8 in. units entered was also recorded. All rats were seen in the novel half more often than in the familiar half and this novelty preference was greatest for the youngest rats. However, exploration and inter-unit locomotion scores tended to be lower with the younger animals. For all three groups these two scores showed a significant decrement during an observation period.     

Spiritual crises facing surgical patients

Conclusion The surgical patient, then, offers the chaplain a rather special challenge. While most patients suffer a disruption of life and community, this disruption may be particularly trying to the surgical patient due to its suddenness. While most patients undergo certain fears and apprehensions upon hospitalization, it is the surgical patient who must pass through realms of the unknown and never know when this may occur. While virtually anyone may lose his desire to live, the patient who suffers severe emotional trauma in surgery, along with severe distortions of his body, may be particularly susceptible to this apprehensiveness. And while guilt is a common feeling, surgery usually presupposes a disease or accident about which the patient is prone to ask, What did I do to cause this? And finally, there are spiritual crises peculiar to particular kinds of surgery.The hospital minister, then, must learn what to expect on the surgical ward generally, and also in regard to particular types of surgical patients. At the same time he must be open to new and unusual crises. When the chaplain is aware in this way, he will be able to meet, in the lives of surgical patients, the crises that demand the flexible mobilization of all his resources.     

The Influence of Values, Information, and Decision Orders on a Public Policy Decision

An experiment was conducted to determine the influence of personal values, information, and decision order on choice and commitment to choice when the decision involved a complex matter of public policy. Findings indicated that values determined piorities, but not decisions; information did not influence choice, but had a curvilinear effect on the commitment to the choice; the decision order did not influence the components of the decision process, but did determine the proportion of value-consistent decisions. The significance of these findings to public policy and the need for future research are discussed.     

A stereotaxic implant technique for the weanling rat

A modified technique for permanently implanted electrodes in the weanling rat is presented. As a reliable and durable technique, long-term stimulation of the juvenile rat is made possible.     

A comparison of error based and time based learning measures as predictors of general intelligence

Two methodological issues involved in determining the relationship between learning and general intelligence (g) are examined. They are firstly, the use of subject learning strategies in a paired-associated learning task and secondly the importance of time in the measurement of learning efficiency. Concerning the first issue, paired-associates learning scores of subjects who were instructed in the use of an appropriate learning strategy correlated significantly with general intelligence scores while those not so instructed did not. Concerning the second issue, a time based learning measure was developed to predice the time required for complete learning in the paired-associates learning task. This measure was compared learning with a number of error-based learning measures in their ability to predict general intelligence. The time based learning measure was clearly superior to the error based measures yielding a correlation of .59 with general intelligence.