Contextual constraint: a Danish language replication of Miller-Selfridge with methodological improvements

Previous studies in the English language have demonstrated the relevance of context and redundancy in assessing the impairment of information processing functions in psychopathology. In the present investigation, Danish language texts, varying in their degree of contextual constraint, were presented orally to 32 normal subjects, following the procedure of Miller & Selfridge (1950). Zero-order texts were created with and without matching for word frequencies, a control that was not employed by Miller & Selfridge. Immediate recall was measured and analysed as a function of degree of contextual constraint. Context effects upon accuracy of recall were obtained. The results essentially replicated the findings of Miller & Selfridge, and those of similar studies in other languages. Word frequency affected accuracy of recall at the zero-order point. The potential value of these texts as research tools in psychopathology is discussed.     

A Decade of Career Development Research: Implications for Theory,Practice, and Research

This study examines trends in the area of career development programs, practices, and research during the last decade based on program sessions at the American Educational Research Association's annual meetings.     

Processing differences in the right and left visual half-field

Strings each containing 3 single digits were displayed tachistoscopically in the right and left visual half-field to 59 normal children, 8 to 14 years old. A distinction between 4 types of responses was made. Correct responses most frequently occurred to items in the left half-field, no half-field advantages was found for reversed responses, and wrong-order responses most frequently occurred to items in the right half-field. These results are explained by suggesting a more analog mode of processing in the left visual half-field and a more conceptual mode of processing in the right half-field. The degree of asymmetry was found to be age-related.     

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.     

Justice of give‐and‐take in the intimate relationship: When one partner of a couple is diagnosed with cancer

This study examined to what extent couples facing cancer (N= 55) and healthy couples (N= 74) perceived various distributions of give‐and‐take to be just or fair when occurring within a relationship of a cancer patient and his or her partner. Participants read one of three versions of a bogus interview with a couple facing cancer. In these scenarios, both partners were either equally well‐off in terms of give‐and‐take or one partner was better off than the other. In general, participants judged the equitable situation to be the fairest. Thus, even in a situation in which one partner of a couple has cancer, people generally judge a relationship in which both partners mutually support each other to be the fairest. Only in extreme situations (i.e., if the patient were in a bad condition) did participants regard a distribution according to need fairer than a distribution according to equity. Couples facing cancer and healthy couples did not differ in their judgments. In addition, emotional responses to the scenarios were studied. Consistent with equity theory, participants expected to feel most guilty in an overbenefited situation. In contrast with equity theory, however, participants did not expect to feel especially angry or sad in an underbenefited situation.     

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.     

Principles of Systematic Theology

The Holy Trinity is the ontological principle of Christian systematic theology. Its external or objective cognitive principle is the divine Word, by which, through the prophets and apostles and with the illumination of the Spirit, God's incommunicable self-knowledge is accommodated to the saints. The internal or subjective cognitive principle is the redeemed intelligence of the saints. Systematic theology is thus ectypal knowledge (derived from God's disclosure of his archetypal self-knowledge), and a subaltern or subordinate science. Its matter is twofold: God, and all things in God. Accordingly, it is best arranged as a treatment of God in himself, followed by a treatment of the outer works of God, with a theology of the divine missions as the hinge between the two. This arrangement offers a synthetic and conceptual transposition of the primary language of Scripture.     

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.