Behavioral and personality characteristics of children with reactive attachment disorder

The authors compared behavioral and personality characteristics of children with reactive attachment disorder (RAD) with non-RAD children. Participants included parents of children with RAD (n = 21), parents of non-RAD children (n = 21), and some of the children (n = 20). The parents completed questionnaires regarding behavioral and personality characteristics of their children. Parents were also given the option of asking their children to participate in the study by completing self-report measures. Several significant findings were obtained. Children with RAD scored lower on empathy but higher on self-monitoring than non-RAD children. These differences were especially pronounced based on parent ratings and suggest that children with RAD may systematically report their personality traits in overly positive ways. Their scores also indicated considerably more behavioral problems than scores of the control children. Previous research has been generally qualitative in nature. The current research represents some of the first quantitative, empirical work documenting specific behaviors associated with the diagnosis of RAD. The findings of this study have implications for better understanding and dealing with reactive attachment disorder.     

Acquired equivalence and distinctiveness in human discrimination learning: evidence for associative mediation

In the first stage of Experiments 1-3, subjects learned to associate different geometrical figures with colors or with verbal labels. Performance in Stage 2, in which the figures signaled which of 2 motor responses should be performed, was superior in subjects required to make the same response to figures that had shared the same Stage 1 associate. A third stage of testing showed that the events used as associates in Stage 1 were capable of evoking the motor response trained in Stage 2, an outcome predicted by an associative interpretation of such transfer effects. Experiment 4 provided evidence that the relevant associations can be effective in controlling motor responding even when subjects report an antagonistic relationship between events.     

Correlated and coupled cognitive change in older adults with and without preclinical dementia

Common factor aging theories state that correlations among cognitive age effects signify a single underlying causal process. The logic underlying this proposition was evaluated by examining correlated cognitive change in a sample of 391 initially nondemented older adults who were tested annually for up to 16 years. Between-person correlations among rates of change (range = .56-.61) were partly attributable to model misspecification and the aggregation of heterogeneous groups of individuals. Correlated within-person cognitive change was much stronger in the cases (.45-.51) than in the noncases (.07-.18). These results demonstrate that correlated change may either signify causal commonality or the cumulative effects of multiple age-related conditions that can affect multiple cognitive systems.     

Empathy, Expectations, and Situational Preferences: Personality Influences on the Decision to Participate in Volunteer Helping Behaviors

Although considerable evidence indicates that dispositional empathy is associated with the degree of help that observers will offer needy targets, little is known about the effect of empathy on one's initial willingness to enter situations in which such needy targets might be found. Three studies were conducted to evaluate two related propositions: (1) that dispositional empathy influences such situational preferences, and (2) that this influence is mediated by the expectancies one holds regarding the emotions likely to occur in those situations. Using hypothetical judgments, Study 1 found support for both propositions. Study 2, in which participants believed that their responses actually committed them to encountering needy targets, provided further support for the model, as did Study 3, which examined the experiences of actual community volunteers. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Parental Goal Orientations and Beliefs About the Competitive-Sport Experience of Their Child1

We examined the achievement goals of parents' in relation to their interpretation of their child's sporting behavior, preference for certain types of performance feedback about their child, the types of tasks they prefer their child to engage in, and their beliefs about the cause of their child's performance. The sample consisted of 96 parents whose children were in the first year (mean age 11.3) at a large comprehensive school in a major city in the United Kingdom. Parents' dispositional achievement goal orientations were differentiated by their responses to the Perception of Success Questionnaire (Roberts & Balague, 1989, 1991). Whereas differences in task orientation appear to be critical in the education setting (Ames & Archer, 1988), the findings of this study suggest that individual differences in ego orientation may be more significant in the competitive sport context.     

Women and “body-isms” in television beer commercials

Research on women in print advertisements has shown that pictures of women's bodies and body parts (body-isms) appear more often than pictures of men's bodies. Men's faces (face-isms) are photographed more often than their bodies. This present study is the first to confirm this finding for television commercials. Results showed that men appear twice as often as women in beer commercials. The body-isms of women significantly outnumbered the body-isms of men. Women also appeared in swimwear more often than men, thus increasing the photo opportunities for body-isms. This study raises concerns about the dehumanizing influence of these images in beer commercials, and their association with alcohol use and the violence in the televised sporting events during which beer commercials are frequently aired.     

Effects of serial versus concurrent task sequencing an acquisition, maintenance, and generalization

Effects of serial and concurrent task presentation on skill acquisition, generalization, and maintenance were compared. Two severely retarded females participated. During serial training, items of one response class, tracing, were trained to mastery before those of a second task, vocal imitation. In the concurrent method, training on two different tasks, tracing and vocal imitation, alternated within sessions for fixed periods of time. There were no major differences between the serial and concurrent methods of instruction in the number of steps attained per behavior or in the number of trials required to reach criterion levels of performance. It was found however, that concurrent training resulted in more generalization. Retention results were not consistently related to training method.