Mystical orientation and personality among anglican clergy

A sample of 222 male clergy completed the short form Revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, together with an index of mystical orientation. The data demonstrate a positive correlation between mystical orientation and extroversion, but no relationship between mystical orientation and either neuroticism or psychoticism.     

Transfer between downshift in reward magnitude and continuous delay of reward

Two separate experiments were conducted to investigate transfer of persistence between delay and a downshift in reward magnitude. In the first experiment, experimental rats were initially downshifted in reward magnitude and later tested for persistence to continuous delay of large reward. It was found that these rats were more persistent to the effects of delay than control rats which did not receive prior experience with a downshift in reward magnitude. In the second experiment, experimental rats were first trained to receive large reward under delayed conditions and then tested for persistence to a downshift in reward magnitude. Compared to control rats which received no prior experience with delay, the experimental rats showed a significantly smaller negative contrast effect. The results were interpreted as supporting Amsel's theory of persistence as well as Capaldi's recent interpretation of contrast effects.     

Simple visual reaction time,personality and strength of the nervous system: A signal-detection theory approach

Eysenck (1967) has reviewed evidence which suggests that introverts have a higher level of arousal than extraverts. Moreover, Gray (1967) has proposed that introverts have weak nervous systems, in the Russian terminology. Studies of simple reaction time such as that of Mangan and Farmer (1967) have posed problems for these views, but it is suggested that this may have been due to criterion differences between introverts and extraverts. In the present study a simple visual reaction-time task and a signal-detection task were conducted side by side. No significant differences between introverts and extraverts were found in measures of strength derived from the former, or measures of criterion derived from the latter. However, high N Ss were found to have a significantly lower value for Nebylitsyn's index of the slope of the reaction time/stimulus intensity function, thus supporting the view that high N Ss have relatively weak nervous systems.     

Recognition hypermnesia: The growth of recognition memory (d') over time with repeated testing

This study sought to determine whether recognition hypermnesia (unforgetting) might be obtained over time with repeated testing of recognition memory. Four types of stimuli were investigated: pictures or words (captions) from configured (funny) or non-configured (non-funny) cartoons. Three recognition tests, each comprising the same stimulus and distractor items, were successively administered after the presentation of a large set of captioned cartoons. Silent think intervals of 5 min were interpolated between recognition tests. Recognition hypermnesia, measured by increasing d' estimates of accessible recognition memory, was obtained with the pictures from configured (funny) cartoons but not with any of the other groups.     

A linguistic analysis of fluent aphasia

Fluent aphasia is a general term for those posterior aphasic syndromes which involve little or no motor difficulties and which exhibit rather normal rates of speech output. This paper is a comparative neurolinguistic study of three types of fluent aphasia. Differences as well as similarities regarding language behavior both within and across groups are analyzed. Much attention is given to anomia and to how it is confronted by each group. Various possible paraphasic processes which may be involved in the genesis of neologisms are discussed. Localization information is provided for the patients in the study, and special attention is drawn to prerequisite neuroanatomical involvement for neologistic jargon.     

Assistance with learning competence and decision-making in schools and further education

721 first-year university students were asked about the amount of help they had received or might have received at their pre-tertiary institutions in developing their learning competence and in course/university/career decision-making. Over all items, nearly 30% felt they had been helped minimally, 40-45% slightly to moderately, and nearly 30% moderately to very much. They felt they had been helped most with learning competence concerns, less with their career and educational decision-making, and least of all with handling distracting personal worries. There were no significant differences by sex or by type of institution previously attended. The correlation between perceived amount of help and A-level scores was not significant. The implications of the findings are discussed in terms of the possible contribution of learning competence to attainment and the need for realistic educational and career decision-making.     

Counselling approaches to increasing students' learning competence

Learning competence is a comprehensive term which encompasses study skills, relevant interpersonal skills, and absence of debilitating achievement anxiety. 721 first year university freshmen were asked about the areas in which they felt more and less competent as learners. A factor analysis of their responses suggested eight areas of learning competence including: planning, organising and effective use of study time; effective reading and memorising; interpersonal relations and ability to obtain study help; and examinations. Ways in which counsellors can assist students with these varying learning concerns are reviewed, and it is suggested that more attention be paid in schools and colleges to professional approaches and structures for increasing student learning competence.     

WITHOUT CONSENT: PRINCIPLES OF JUSTIFIED ACQUISITION AND DUTY-IMPOSING POWERS

A controversy in political philosophy and applied ethics concerns the validity of duty-imposing powers, that is, rights entitling one person to impose new duties on others without their consent. Many philosophers have criticized as unplausible any such moral right, in particular that of appropriating private property unilaterally. Some, finding duty-imposing powers weird, unfamiliar or baseless, have argued that principles of justified acquisition should be rejected; others have required them to satisfy exacting criteria. I investigate the many ways in which we regularly impose duties on one another without prior consent. I show that doing so is not weird, and I offer criteria which demarcate the reasonable from the worrisome aspects of duty-imposing powers.