Measuring the stop point of rapid smoking

A method and an apparatus are described for measuring the point at which subjects elect to stop smoking when cigarette smoke is delivered more rapidly than in typical smoking. The device allows either the subject or the experimenter to control the volume of smoke and the interval between puffs. The device delivers reliable quantities of particulate matter from cigarette smoke. Subjects retested a week apart exhibited consistent stopping points.     

Social processing errors among paranoid personalities

The present study tested clinical hypotheses about the social processing attributes of paranoid personalities (PP). Eighteen PPs and 18 normal controls (NC) viewed standardized role plays (Dodge, 1986) in which a provocation occurred but the protagonist's intention varied (i.e., ambiguous, accidental, hostile, or prosocial). Subjects identified the intention behind the action and then chose a response to that action (e.g., ignore what he did). The results indicated that PPs and NCs did not differ on intentioncue detection when the intention was clear, but PPs had a significantly higher rate of misreading ambiguous situations. Furthermore, when intentions were ambiguous, PPs were more likely than NCs to identify them as hostile intentions. Finally, PPs' reactions to the vignettes were different from normal controls' when the perceived intention was either prosocial or accidential. PPs were more likely to respond with anger and less likely to ignore the event, compared to NCs. These data provide initial support for clinical notions about the aberrant social processing of paranoid personalities.     

Effects of public and private deviancy on compliance with a request

A confederate requester asked subjects to write letters for an educational campaign after they had completed a battery of tests and received either deviant or nondeviant feedback. Half of the subjects were led to believe that the requester had knowledge of their test performance; the remaining half believed that the confederate did not know their test scores. Within these conditions, some subjects believed that complying with the request would involve future meetings with the requester while others were not led to anticipate any future interaction. As expected, deviants complied more than nondeviants replicating Freedman and Doob's (1968) results; however, neither the secret/known nor the future interaction variations produced effects. Contrary to the prediction that deviants are compliant because they wish to avoid mistreatment, secret deviants complied slightly more than known deviants. Compliance was discussed as instrumental in improving self-image.     

Receiving Help,Reciprocation, and Interpersonal Attraction1

In a 3 × 3 factorial experiment with 3 additional cells, 329 male or female subjects working with two same-sex confederates (A and B), received either voluntary, involuntary, or no help from A after which attraction to A and B were measured for one-fourth of the subjects. The remaining subjects were assigned to a second set of tasks and were induced to help A, help B, or were not given an opportunity to help, after which they completed attraction and mood measures. Subjects were more likely to volunteer help after the second task when they had received prior help. Receipt of help led to more liking for the helper and the helper was liked more when subjects were able to reciprocate. Attraction and mood results are discussed in relation to attractiveness mediation, modeling, and indebtedness explanations for reciprocity.     

Prediction in future samples studied in terms of the gain from selection

The gain from selection (GS) is defined as the standardized average performance of a group of subjects selected in a future sample using a regression equation derived on an earlier sample. Expressions for the expected value, density, and distribution function (DF) of GS are derived and studied in terms of sample size, number of predictors, and the prior distribution assigned to the population multiple correlation. The DF of GS is further used to determine how large sample sizes must be so that with probability .90 (.95), the expected GS will be within 90 percent of its maximum possible value. An approximately unbiased estimator of the expected GS is also derived.     

Homicide and the insanity defense: A comparison of sane and insane murderers

A sample of 50 homicide defendants acquitted by reason of insanity (NGRI) was compared with a group of 50 defendants who were evaluated for insanity and found to be criminally responsible (CR). Significant differences were found between the two groups in terms of prior psychiatric and criminal histories and nature of the homicide (i.e., relationship to victim). The dispositions of those found NGRI were also examined on the above variables.