Rate dependent effects of imipramine: Effects of imipramine on operant behaviour in rats at various levels of water deprivation

The behavioural effects of 1.0, 3.10 and 6.0 mg/kg imipramine injections on lever pressing of rats were studied. Lever pressing was reinforced according to a continuous reinforcement schedule at 0, 24, and 48 h of water deprivation, according to fixed ratio schedules with 22 1/2 h of water deprivation, and according to differential-reinforcement-of-low-rate schedules with 22 1/2 h of water deprivation. The mean rate of responding per min increased significantly at 1.0 mg/kg on the continuous reinforcement schedule at 24 h of deprivation. Otherwise, a dose-related significant reduction in the mean response rate per min occurred on the fixed raito schedules and partly on the differential-reinforcement-of-low-rate schedules, thus lending support to the idea that rate dependent effects may be produced only on schedules of reinforcement such as the fixed ratio, the fixed interval and the variable interval. The results also indicate that depenent effects may be produced only at moderate levels of water deprivation. Some critical comments are made on concepts of rate dependency in view of the results and of previous finding.     

Rowland Universal Dementia Assessment Scale,Mini‐Mental State Examination and General Practitioner Assessment of Cognition in a multicultural cohort of community‐dwelling older persons with early dementia

Early dementia can be difficult to diagnose in older persons from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds. The Folstein Mini‐Mental State Examination (MMSE), the General Practitioner Assessment of Cognition (GPCOG) and the Rowland Universal Dementia Assessment Scale (RUDAS) were compared in 151 older, community‐dwelling persons. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to evaluate diagnostic accuracy, while logistic regression was used to evaluate the influence of age, gender, CALD status and years of education. All three instruments were equally accurate in predicting dementia (ROC area under curve 0.92–0.97, p > 0.05 for all comparisons). At the recommended cut‐offs, the RUDAS was best for ruling in dementia (positive LR = 8.77), while the GPCOG was best for ruling out dementia (negative LR = 0.03). All three instruments were influenced by concomitant depression. Whereas the MMSE was influenced by CALD status, the RUDAS and GPCOG were not. While the GPCOG combines participant and informant data, the RUDAS is a stand‐alone measure specifically designed for, and validated in, multicultural populations.     

Feelings of injustice after violation of succession rules in simulated organizations

In previous studies (e.g. Bruins and Wilke, 1993) it was established that in hierarchically structured groups, power aspirations towards a high power position are stronger for the next most senior person than for lower positioned others, that, is, support was found for Ng's (1977) bureaucratic rule. In the present study the persistence of the bureaucratic rule is demonstrated in simulated organizations with different succession rules. In addition, it appeared that when the least powerful member of the organization was assigned to a vacant high power position, members' feelings of injustice were stronger in conditions in which the succession rule had been violated, but interestingly, these feelings were not dependent on members' own positions.     

Cooperation,ethnic salience and generalization of interethnic attitudes

This study compared the effectiveness of three theoretically-based conditions of intergroup cooperation in bringing about generalization of ethnic outgroup attitudes from a cooperation partner to the outgroup as a whole. Twenty-seven pairs of Dutch secondary school pupils were assigned at random to work together in triads to solve two word puzzles. The triads consisted of one Turkish pupil, always a confederate, and two Dutch pupils. The three conditions varied according to whether reference was made to the ethnic background of the confederate in both an introductory conversation and in the conversation-break between puzzles (High–High salience); only in the later break (Low–High); or not at all (Low–Low). Results show no differences between conditions in attitudes towards the partner, which were quite positive. However, attitude change only generalized in the two conditions in which ethnic membership was made salient (Low–High and High–High, which did not differ). These findings are discussed in terms of different models of intergroup contact, and how contact may actually work.     

CAN CHRISTIAN TALK ABOUT GOD BE LITERAL?

This article discusses whether Christian talk about God can be literal. First, it is argued that the meaning of a word cannot be reduced to its use, that metaphorical language is indirect in its use of words, and that the change of meaning of a word by analogical extension differs from the change of meaning by repeated metaphorical use. Next, it is shown that in Christian talk about God, God can be literally referred to by God's proper name, “YHWH,” and by words that in contexts of prayer and praise function as proper names. Then it is argued that terms for non‐basic actions can be literally applied to the Christian God, and that some of God's essential properties can be literally described on the basis of his self‐revealing actions.     

Psychometric features related to the acute phase and final outcome of anorexia nervosa

The MMPI responses of a poor and good final outcome group from a follow-up study of anorexia nervosa were compared with responses of a group of anorexic patients in the acute phase. The poor outcome group produced elevated scores in the psychopathological range except on scales 4, 5 and 9. No elevations occurred in the good outcome group and the MMPI thus discriminated significantly between different kinds of final outcome of anorexia nervosa. The profile of the patients in the acute phase at time of testing was not significantly different from the poor outcome group profile. In order to improve the predictive validity of the MMPI related to anorexia nervosa, the paper points to possible directions for further research.     

The epistemic status of inter-item correlations in Eysenck's Personality Questionnaire: the a priori versus the empirical in psychological data

Judgements of the semantic relatedness of items in Eysenck's Personality Questionnaire and the corresponding inter-item correlations were found to be significantly related. The results are taken to indicate that the inter-item correlations are knowable a priori and, hence, are not empirical. It is also argued that the reported findings themselves are knowable a priori , and that the study, therefore, is pseudoempirical, that is, attempts to test necessarily true propositions empirically. The study was intended to demonstrate concretely the distinction between a priori and empirical in psychological data, and to indicate the confusion arising when that distinction is not made.     

An application of a discriminant analysis, based on the weighted H-index—a reanalysis

Abstract.— A discriminant-analysis method for dichotomized data, based on the weighted H -index as the similarity measure between two persons, is introduced. The weight assigned each item is a strictly increasing function of the absolute value of its D -estimate. Here, only power functions are used. The method which is called the WHIDD-analysis, is applied to some clinical data (Jonsson, 1975). The power of 3 produces a correct classification of all 32 persons in the validation group.