Ethical issues related to the artificial heart

This paper is a general survey of ethical issues related to the artificial heart. It begins by looking at the history of funding of the artificial heart program through the National Institute of Health in 1965. Attention is paid to the problem of the lack of planning related to social, ethical, economic, and legal implications. The paper then deals with three areas of ethical concerns. They are those issues relating to the experimental versus therapeutic benefits, the cost, and public involvement with a private interest.     

Criterion-related validity data for the child behavior checklist—Teacher''s report form

Criterion-related validity data for the Child Behavior Checklist—Teacher's Report Form are presented. These data were collected from a sample of elementary school boys. A total behavior problem score and individual factor scores were calculated from the checklist data and were related to indices of academic achievement and overall adjustment in the classroom. Significant correlations were established between the two sets of scores. The results were interpreted as supporting the criterion-related validity of the teacher-judgment measure and its use as a screening or diagnostic device in the school.     

A factor analytic study of manifest anxiety: a transsituational, transtemporal investigation

In this study, we investigated the factorial structure of the Manifest Anxiety Scale (MAS) among American, counseling graduate students (N = 227). The MAS was administered across transsituational and transtemporal conditions. The following four factors were yielded following orthogonal rotation: General Worries, Physiological Correlates of Anxiety, Distractibility, and Embarrassment. These four factors, however, explained less than one quarter of the common variance extracted. Following a comparison with previous factor analytic studies of the MAS, we discuss factors possibly contributing to the discrepant findings, with particular attention to the MAS's item content and psychometric properties and the nature of the population used.     

Impulse characteristics in rapid movement: implications for impulse-variability models

Three untested assumptions of the impulse-variability model were examined in two experiments utilizing rapid, uni-planar limb movements. Experiment 1 varied movement distance (A) and movement time (MT) in a rapid-timing paradigm where the subject moved a lever through a certain distance in a certain time. Experiment 2 varied A in a reversal response where the S made a rapid elbow flexion and extension in a given MT. Displacement recordings were made on every trial. KR (knowledge of results) about MT was given after every trial. The results can be summarized as follows: (a) As predicted by the model, variations in impulse size and velocity were directly related to the impulses size; (b) There was no correlation between the accelerative and decelerative impulse durations recorded during the reversal response supporting the notion that the impulses might be independent; (c) Negative correlations (-.20 to -.50) were demonstrated between peak acceleration and impulse duration for both experiments, counter to the predictions of the model; and (d) Counter to the predictions of the model, timing error (VEt) increased as A decreased for rapid-timing responses. When the correlational results are taken into account, the model has the capacity to account for curvilinear relationships between relative timing error and movement speed. Overall, the results suggest that the impulse variability model requires some restructuring before it can be considered a viable model for the control of rapid limb movements.     

Do semantic memory deficiencies underlie learning disabled readers' encoding processes?

This study investigates the extent to which learning disabled readers' atypical encoding relates to their deficiencies in semantic memory. Inferences related to ability group performance were based on the assumption that encoding involves the matching of incoming information against a featural representation of that information in semantic memory. To this end, learning disabled and nondisabled readers in two age groups were compared on dichotic listening recall tasks that included orienting and nonorienting instructions. Orienting instructions directed children's attention toward semantic, phonemic, or structural word features. Dependent measures were lateralization, free recall, retrieval organization, and selective attention. The efficiency of allocating attentional resources was inferred from correlations between central and incidental recall. Primary results included the following: Disabled and nondisabled readers' ear asymmetry differences were dependent upon age, orienting instructions, and type of word list; disabled readers' recall and organization scores were lower than skilled readers'; however, both ability groups benefitted from orienting instructions compared to nonorienting instructions; during orienting instructions, disabled readers were less able than skilled readers to divide their attention between target and nontarget word features, especially during interhemispheric processing conditions; and the relative efficiency of allocating attentional resources differed qualitatively between the two ability groups. The results suggest that ability group variations reflect the structure of the memory trace in interaction with ear presentation and encoding processes. It is inferred that disabled readers' inferior memory traces reflect the quantity and internal coherence of information stored in semantic memory as well as the means by which such information is accessed.     

Attitude accessibility as a moderator of the attitude-perception and attitude-behavior relations: an investigation of the 1984 presidential election

It was hypothesized that the extent to which individuals' attitudes guide their subsequent perceptions of and behavior toward the attitude object is a function of the accessibility of those attitudes from memory. A field investigation concerning the 1984 presidential election was conducted as a test of these hypotheses. Attitudes toward each of the two candidates, Reagan and Mondale, and the accessibility of those attitudes, as indicated by the latency of response to the attitudinal inquiry, were measured for a large sample of townspeople months before the election. Judgments of the performance of the candidates during the televised debates served as the measure of subsequent perceptions, and voting served as the measure of subsequent behavior. As predicted, both the attitude-perception and the attitude-behavior relations were moderated by attitude accessibility. The implications of these findings for theoretical models of the processes by which attitudes guide behavior, along with their practical implications for survey research, are discussed.     

Predicting adult temperament from minor physical anomalies

It is known that in children, individual differences in temperament are linked to rates of minor physical anomalies (MPAs). These anomalies are a standard set of 17 nonobvious but measurable characteristics of the face, hands, and feet. We explored the relation between MPAs and temperament in adults. An intact sample of 88 undergraduates completed a battery of personality tests and lifestyle questions, and then were examined for MPAs. The index of MPAs for each subject was simply the total count out of 17. The results showed a pattern of correlates parallel to that found in children. Among male subjects, correlations with MPAs were significant for the Physical Activity and Clumsiness factors of the lifestyle inventory as well as for measures of emotionality, extraversion, masculinity, femininity, and Type A personality. The MPA index was also predictive of a behavioral index of temperament in male subjects. No correlations were significant among female subjects.     

Peers' granting of control to women with different sex role identities: implications for depression

This investigation is one of a series of studies seeking to determine the degree of control given to women with different sex role identities. This study focused on the extent to which peers were willing to grant control to women with different sex role identities if working individually with each woman on various two-person tasks. The results indicated that women with different sex role identities were granted different amounts of control by their peers as a function of the type of two-person task under consideration. Women rated high on masculinity were granted greater control on enjoyable and creative tasks, whereas women rated low in masculinity were given more control on methodical and less enjoyable tasks. Women judged high in femininity were given control on tasks requiring interpersonal skills. These findings were discussed within the context of learned helplessness theory as a possible aid in understanding why more women than men become depressed.     

Altruism and aggression: the heritability of individual differences

Five questionnaires measuring altruistic and aggressive tendencies were completed by 573 adult twin pairs of both sexes from the University of London Institute of Psychiatry Volunteer Twin Register. The questionnaires measured altruism, empathy, nurturance, aggressiveness, and assertiveness. The intraclass correlations for the five scales, respectively, were .53, .54, .49, .40, and .52 for 296 monozygotic pairs, and .25, .20, .14, .04, and .20 for 179 same-sex dizygotic pairs, resulting in broad heritability estimates of 56%, 68%, 70%, 72%, and 64%. Additional analyses, using maximum-likelihood model-fitting, revealed approximately 50% of the variance on each scale to be associated with genetic effects, virtually 0% with the twins' common environment, and the remaining 50% with each twins' specific environment and/or error associated with the test. Correcting for the unreliability in the tests raised the maximum-likelihood heritabilities to approximately 60%. Age and sex differences were also found: altruism increased over the age span from 19 to 60, whereas aggressiveness decreased, and, at each age, women had higher scores than men on altruism and lower scores on aggressiveness.