The effect of mood and pleasant versus unpleasant information feedback on performing a motor skill

The effect of negative, positive, or neutral feedback on a rotary pursuit task as a function of the subject's depressed or elated mood was ascertained. Specifically, the self-schema hypothesis was examined. Ninety female volunteers, ranging in age from 18 to 25 years, participated. They were randomly assigned to one of eight conditions based on depressed or elated mood states, elicited by Velten's (1968) mood induction procedure, and feedback. A control group received no feedback and was not subjected to a mood inducing treatment. Baseline measures and changes in mood were determined by the Multiple Adjective Affective Checklist (MAACL). Bogus feedback was offered after all but one of the trials. The subjects' mood changed significantly during the mood-inducing treatment. For motor performance, partial support was lent to self-schema. Elated and depressed subjects performed best under positive and negative feedback, respectively. The effects, however, were temporary.     

Behavioral and sociocognitive correlates of ratings of prosocial behavior and sociometric status

Although peers' and teachers' evaluations of children's prosocial behavior and peers' sociometric ratings frequently have been used in studies of social development, the validity of young children's ratings of others has been questioned, as has that for teachers' ratings of prosocial behavior. In this study, preschoolers' ratings of peers' sociometric status and prosocial behavior, as well as teachers' ratings of children's prosocial dispositions, were obtained. These were correlated with children's naturally occurring prosocial or social behavior; ratings of prosocial behavior also were correlated with children's prosocial moral reasoning and prosocial self-attributions. Peers' sociometric ratings were positively related to children's sociability whereas prosocial ratings were related to helping (but not sharing) behavior. Teachers' ratings of prosocial behavior were not related to frequency of prosocial behaviors, but were positively related to developmentally mature moral judgments and self-reported motives.     

Preventing Substance Abuse Among American-Indian Adolescents: A Bicultural Competence Skills Approach

Tobacco, alcohol, and drug use are problems for American-Indian people. We reviewed these problems and the explanations for them and described a bicultural competence skills approach for preventing substance abuse with American-Indian adolescents. Data from a study of that approach suggest its efficacy with American-Indian youth. At posttest and a 6-month follow-up, American-Indian subjects who received preventive intervention based on bicultural competence skills concepts improved more than did American-Indian subjects in a no-intervention control condition on measures of substance-use knowledge, attitudes, and interactive skills, and on self-reported rates of tobacco, alcohol, and drug use. Our findings have implications for future substance-abuse prevention research with American-Indian people.     

An Investigation of the Professional Travel Environment

In this study the authors compared women's and men's reactions to various professional travel situations. A multivariate analysis of covariance was used to determine the effects of sex, professional role, and years traveling on the perceptions of these travel situations.     

Career Counseling Implications with the Gay and Lesbian Population

In this article, the author identifies resources available to assist the gay and lesbian population with career planning and job search concerns. Evolving legal issues are also discussed.     

Sources of Test Information

In this article the author lists and discusses sources of test information, with special attention on information given to what will be valuable to employment and career counselors.     

Symbiosis, the Family, and Natural Systems

Family systems theory, as developed by Murray Bowen, has its conceptual basis in natural systems. A basic premise is that emotional process is not unique to homo sapiens and that human behavior might better be understood by observing this process in the broader context of all natural systems. This essay discusses the phenomenon of symbiosis as it is used in the natural sciences and as it relates to the emergence of increasingly complex systems in nature. Finally, the emergence of the parent/offspring symbiosis from its possible origins to its development in the human family is discussed.     

Systemic crisis intervention as a response to adolescent crises: an outcome study

The present study demonstrates the safety and effectiveness of an outpatient program designed to respond to adolescent-precipitated crises by mobilizing and restructuring the family's kinship system. Families of 75 adolescents at risk for hospitalization were followed up to 24 months after treatment with Systemic Crisis Intervention. Measures of offspring and family functioning, suicidal behavior, institutional use, and treatment costs are presented. Results clearly demonstrate the safety, effectiveness, and economic viability of Systemic Crisis Intervention.