Rod Cocking's legacy: The development of psychological distancing

Thirty years of work on psychological distancing is discussed in this article. The psychological construct of psychological distance was applied to the development of children's developing representational abilities over 30 years ago [Sigel, I. E. (1970). The distancing hypothesis: A causal hypothesis for the acquisition of representational thought. In: M. R. Jones (Ed.), Miami symposium on the prediction of behavior, 1968: Effect of early experiences (pp. 99–118). Coral Gables, FL: University of Miami Press]. The construct has changed knowledge in three areas: (1) changes in the child's developmental status as a result of reflection on general properties of interactions with the world as well as maturation, (2) the effects of different modes of formal instruction in schooling on the development of children's thinking, and (3) the relationship of one's beliefs about how development occurs to behaviors with children that create “distancing experiences” for children. The distancing construct itself has been broadened further as the notion of psychological distance has been applied to areas as diverse as delay of gratification, divorce, video game play, and resolution of interpersonal conflicts [Cocking, R. R., & Renninger, K. A. (Eds.) (1993). The development and meaning of psychological distance. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum]. The distancing construct was evident in Rod Cocking's own program of psychological inquiry. However, much of his legacy to the field lies in his Educational Testing Service (ETS) work that extended the usefulness of this construct for other researchers working in a variety of domains of development and in his ability to see the implications of research from this perspective for the lives of children.     

Universes of discourse: implications for counselling and psychotherapy

All individuals can be envisaged as living within a number of parallel universes of discourse, where different meanings and values may apply; these may be characterised by different language 'registers'. The process of counselling and psychotherapy itself constitutes such a universe. The inner and outer worlds of the client also constitute different universes that may themselves each consist of a number of distinct universes. Decisions made with respect to one universe may have different meanings or adverse consequences in another; it therefore beholds the therapist to be aware of, and alert to, these differences.     

Socioeconomic status modifies heritability of IQ in young children

Scores on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children were analyzed in a sample of 7-year-old twins from the National Collaborative Perinatal Project. A substantial proportion of the twins were raised in families living near or below the poverty level. Biometric analyses were conducted using models allowing for components attributable to the additive effects of genotype, shared environment, and nonshared environment to interact with socioeconomic status (SES) measured as a continuous variable. Results demonstrate that the proportions of IQ variance attributable to genes and environment vary nonlinearly with SES. The models suggest that in impoverished families, 60% of the variance in IQ is accounted for by the shared environment, and the contribution of genes is close to zero; in affluent families, the result is almost exactly the reverse.     

Cognitive,Behavioral, and Personality Correlates of HIV-Positive Persons' Unsafe Sexual Behavior1

This study examined sexually risky behaviors of HIV-positive men and women within the framework of social cognitive theory. Condom use was found to be associated with high self-efficacy, positive influeces from social models, and specific condom use expectancies. As risky sexual behavior may be the manifestation of a more general pattern of risk taking that emerges from personality dispositions such as impulsiveness or psychoticism, this possibility was explored with discriminant analyses. Self-reported impulsivity, substance abuse, promiscuity, and deception served as markers of the presumed disposition. While these variables did not reliably distinguish between consistent and inconsistent condom users, they did enhance significantly the classification of individuals who, during the past 6 months, had been sexually abstinent, monogamous, or nonmonogamous. Those who reported more sex partners scored higher on impulsivity, disclosed more involvement with illegal drugs, and showed greater willingness to mislead potential partners about their sexual history than monogamous or sexually abstinent persons with HIV.     

Sublimal Visual Priming

Masked pictures of objects were flashed so briefly that only 13.5% of them could be named. Forced-choice accuracy for the unidentified objects was at chance. When the pictures were shown again, about 15 min and 20 intervening trials later, without any indication of possible repetitions, naming accuracy increased to 34.5%. The priming was completely visual, rather than semantic or verbal, as there was no priming of same-name, different-shape images. This is the first demonstration of facilitatory visual recognition priming by unidentified pictures when the subject could not anticipate if, when, or where the previously unidentified picture was to be shown again. A change in the position of the object reduced but did not eliminate the priming, allowing a speculation that the locus of subliminal visual priming is at an intermediate stage in the ventral cortical pathway for shape recognition.     

Educational Background,Marital Status,Moral Obligation,and the Nurse's Decision to Resign from Her Hospital1

Based on the theory of reasoned action, the present research built separate models of turnover for baccalaureate and nonbaccalaureate nurses and for married and unmarried ones. A representative sample of 755 registered nurses completed the research questionnaire. Six months later, information was obtained from their hospitals concerning whether each nurse remained or resigned. Results were supportive of the theory of reasoned action. Furthermore, significant differences emerged in the predictors for the four subgroups. Moral obligation was found to be a significant predictor for intention only for baccalaureate and unmarried nurses. Part-time versus full-time employment status was found to be a significant predictor of turnover only for unmarried nurses. These results indicate that individuals interested in understanding and reducing nurse turnover may wish to be sensitive to differences between various subgroups of nurses.     

Locus of semantic generalization of the galvanic skin response and possible inhibitory influence of conditional stimuli upon unconditional response following conditioning with innocuous and noxious unconditional stimuli

Two different problems were investigated using the GSR index of the orienting reflex (OR): 1) the locus of semantic generalization: and 2) a possible inhibitory influence of the CS upon the UCR. Two experiments were conducted. One experiment employed an innocuous USC, and a second similar experiment used a loud noise as the UCS. Unidirectional word associates were employed in the test of the direction of semantic generalization. Constant and varying CS words were used to test the possible inhibitory influence of the CS upon the UCR. Evidence was obtained of semantic generalization occurring in the training and in the test situation. There was no evidence of the CS developing inhibition over the UCR. Theoretical interpretations of both phenomena were considered. The need for developing theories of conditioning of the OR in humans was emphasized in contrast to current efforts to apply inappropriate cognitive animal learning theories which fail to consider biologic constraints. Supported in part by University Grant 1322.