Millisecond accuracy video display using OpenGL under Linux

To measure people’s reaction times to the nearest millisecond, it is necessary to know exactly when a stimulus is displayed. This article describes how to display stimuli with millisecond accuracy on a normal CRT monitor, using a PC running Linux. A simple C program is presented to illustrate how this may be done within X Windows using the OpenGL rendering system. A test of this system is reported that demonstrates that stimuli may be consistently displayed with millisecond accuracy. An algorithm is presented that allows the exact time of stimulus presentation to be deduced, even if there are relatively large errors in measuring the display time.     

Tendency to catastrophize somatic sensations: pain catastrophizing and anxiety sensitivity in predicting headache

General catastrophic thinking styles about uncomfortable bodily sensations may predispose the development of common health pathologies, such as persistent headache. The purpose of this research was to explore the relationships between the Pain Catastrophizing (PC) Scale and Anxiety Sensitivity (AS) Index, which measure tendencies to catastrophize pain- and anxiety-related somatic sensations, respectively. A non-clinical sample completed the PC Scale, AS Index, and health outcome questionnaires regarding headache (n = 1018). Results revealed that: (i) AS and PC are empirically separate constructs; (ii) the overlap between PC and AS lies within the domain of fearing physical catastrophe; (iii) AS independently predicts weekly headache, headache pain intensity, and the number of a wide range of physical symptoms associated with headache; and (iv) PC independently predicts the presence of weekly headache. Limitations and implications of this research, as well as recommendations for future research directions are discussed.     

Epidemiology of nonfatal deliberate self-harm in the United States as described in three medical databases

The absence of validated U.S. rates of nonfatal suicidal behavior places risk management and injury prevention programs at danger of being poorly informed and inadequately conceptualized. In this study we compare estimated rates of intentional self-harm from two ongoing surveys (National Electronic Injury Surveillance System-All Injury Program-NEISS-AIP; National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey-NHAMCS) to data from the Toxic Exposure Surveillance System. Results suggest that, for every 2002-2003 suicide, there were 12 (NEISSAIP) or 15 (NHAMCS) self-harm-related emergency department visits, and for every intentional self-poisoning death there were 33 intentional overdoses reported to poison control centers, of which two ultimately went untreated.     

Consider the situation: Reducing automatic stereotyping through Situational Attribution Training

The present research investigated the effectiveness of a new technique for reducing automatic biases rooted in attribution theory - the Situational Attribution Training Technique. The goal of this strategy extends previous work by targeting the fundamental attributional pillars underlying automatic stereotyping. We aimed to circumvent the well-documented tendency for individuals to be overly reliant on dispositional attributions when perceiving negative stereotype-consistent behaviors performed by outgroup members. By teaching participants to consider situational attributions for such behaviors, we expected a reduction in outgroup stereotyping. Specifically, White participants were trained extensively to choose situational over dispositional explanations for negative stereotype-consistent behaviors performed by Black men. Across two experiments, participants who completed Situational Attribution Training demonstrated reduced automatic racial stereotyping on a person categorization task, relative to control participants who exhibited substantial automatic stereotyping. The implications of these findings for the nature and reduction of intergroup biases are discussed.     

Preschoolers' knowledge about the appearance of proper names

Preschoolers' knowledge of the appearance of proper names was tested in three experiments with 25 boys and 22 girls from low-income families. Children from a Head Start program, whose parents signed a permission letter, participated. Their ages ranged from 3 yr. 6 mo. to 5 yr. 6 mo. (M = 52.2 mo., SD = 4.9). When shown consonant-vowel-consonant trigrams such as Rit or baF or dEg with various capitalization patterns, the children showed a tendency to recognize that CVC trigrams with the first letter capitalized or all letters capitalized were the ones most likely to represent a person's name. When their own names were substituted, which typically contained more than three letters, their performance was markedly better. Children also had a strong tendency to consider trigrams of Latin letters as more likely to be a person's name than trigrams of non-Latin characters (e.g., Sanskrit).     

A tool for measuring stress tolerance in elite athletes

The purpose of this investigation was to explore the nature of pre-performance routines used in golf. Six male international golfers were recruited to participate in this study (Age M = 29; handicap M = +1.5; years playing golf M = 16.25). The golfers were interviewed individually to gain an understanding of participants’ perceptions of the nature and function of their pre-performance routines. The data were thematically analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. In total, 9 super-ordinate themes emerged: allocation of attention, psychological skills, shot selection, routine mind set, routine composition, compulsive behaviors, routine evolution/application, top players, and moderating factors. Results suggest that the development of routines is dependent on the personality, coping resources, and situational appraisals of each individual performer.     

Possibilities,models, and intuitionistic logic: Ian Rumfitt’s The boundary stones of thought

AIan Rumfitt's new book presents a distinctive and intriguing philosophy of logic, one that ultimately settles on classical logic as the uniquely correct one–or at least rebuts some prominent arguments against classical logic. The purpose of this note is to evaluate Rumfitt's perspective by focusing on some themes that have occupied me for some time: (i) the role and importance of model theory and, in particular, the place of counter-arguments in establishing invalidity, (ii) higher-order logic, and (iii) the logical pluralism/relativism articulated in my own recent *Varieties of logic*.     

Connotative Meaning as a Determinant of Response to Test Item Content

The purpose of this study was to determine if responses of like or dislike to Perceptual Reaction Test (PRT) designs — and thus, its ability to discriminate among criterion groups — were related to the connotative meaning of the designs. Seventy-four Ss were administered the PRT designs to which they responded on the traditional like-dislike alternatives as well as rating each design on a semantic differential. Correlations between the like-dislike dimension of the PRT designs and the semantic differential ratings of those designs indicated that when a S checks like for a design, he is expressing a positive evaluation of that design and probably sees it as less potent than those designs for which he checked dislike. Expression of like or dislike for a design appears to be inconsistently related to the activity dimension of meaning.     

On the Existential Interpretation of the Rorschach Test

This is an analysis of the Rorschachs of two subjects, a boy and a girl, from the longitudinal research programs of the Institute of Human Development, University of California, Berkeley. Rorschachs had been obtained from these subjects prior to their becoming seriously ill, one with a kidney condition, the other with leukemia. On the basis of the thematic content of the Rorschachs, it was postulated that Rorschach responses may, like dreams, be considered endoscopic in that they may reveal the actual functioning or disfunctioning of the organism, particularly at the onset of somatic illness. Data, from anthropological, mythological, and literary sources, as well as research on the body image concept, were utilized to amplify the hypothesis and to suggest directions for further research.