The relationship of moral maturity and ethical attitude1

Two issues related to Hogan's Survey of Ethical Attitudes (SEA) were investigated. First, the adequacy of Hogan's theoretical characterizations of the two poles of the SEA was tested. The results supported his characterization of the ethics of conscience, but only partially supported his characterization of the ethics of responsibility. Our second focus was on Hogan's prediction that “moral maturity” should be curvilinearly related to the SEA. As predicted, when moral maturity was measured in Hogan's sense, subjects scoring in the middle of the SEA dimension showed higher levels of moral maturity than those at either the ethics of conscience end or the ethics of responsibility end. In contrast, moral maturity in Kohlberg's sense was linearly related to the SEA with the most mature individuals scoring at the ethics of conscience end of the dimension. The total pattern of results highlights the importance of conceptual clarity and conceptual pluralism in research on morality.     

Locus of causality and the use of information in the development of causal attributions1

Two studies were conducted to examine whether attributions made about events may be influenced by individual assumptions regarding causation that are age related. In Study 1, 96 subjects at three age levels (four and five years, eight and nine years, and college students) observed a target actor on videotape select an item from an unseen array, and four other actors either agree (high consensus) or disagree (low consensus) with the choice. Subjects were asked to decide why the actor liked the chosen object best—because of something about the actor (person attribution) or because of something about the item (entity attribution). The results showed that perceived locus of causality shifted from entity to person attributions with age. In addition, subjects at all ages were able to utilize the consensus information when they had no opportunity to form their own impressions about the items in the array. In Study 2, 126 subjects at four age levels (five and six years, seven and eight years, nine and ten years, and high school students) chose an item from among an array for themselves and responded to a person (self)/entity attribution question regarding the locus of their own choice. The entity to person shift with age was again found and was supported by additional measures. The results are discussed in terms of children's causal reasoning capacities and social environmental factors affecting developmental change in social judgments.     

A cusp catastrophe: Hysteresis, bimodality, and inaccessibility in rabbit eyelid conditioning

Three properties of the cusp catastrophe: bimodality, inaccessibility, and hysteresis were evaluated in rabbit eyelid conditioning. Bimodality was evidenced by the fact that responding tended to occur at either very low or very high levels, and inaccessibility by the fact that intermediate levels of responding were rarely encountered. Hysteresis was demonstrated when: (a) levels of responding attained under a continuous schedule of reinforcement were largely maintained by a schedule which was too lean to promote conditioning by itself; and (b) levels of responding attained with a high intensity unconditional stimulus were largely maintained by a lower intensity unconditional stimulus which was too weak to promote conditioning in its own right. These results are consistent with the model of conditioning suggested by P. W. Frey and R. J. Sears (Psychological Review, 1978, 85, 321–340) which postulates response-mapping rules based on the cusp catastrophe.     

Response preference within the Rotter I-E Scale: perceived locus of control of self, average, and ideal others

The Rotter I-E scale was administered to college juniors in education under five different instructional sets. Subjects were asked to complete it (a) as they would ordinarily (self-perception), (b) as they believed an average person of the same sex would, (c) as an average person of the opposite sex would, (d) as an ideal person of the same sex would, and (e) as an ideal person of the opposite sex would. As hypothesized, subjects saw the ideal person of both sexes as significantly more internal than themselves, while they saw the average person of both sexes as more external than themselves. These results suggest the general desirability of being perceived as internally oriented.     

Differential indication of trimipramine - results of a controlled multiclinical study]

The antidepressants trimipramine and imipramine were compared within the framework of a multiclinical study performed under the conditions of a controlled clinical experiment. There has been found a time-different remission of affective und psychomotoric symptoms. The panthymoleptic action of trimipramine and other antidepressants is discussed with reference to these results. Trimipramine influences psychotic states, especially if in depression anxiety is combined with agitation, also in hypochondriac forms of depression.     

The time course of the verbal prediction effect

Choice reaction times following correct verbal predictions of the presented stimulus are faster than after incorrect predictions. Two experiments examined the influence of the time interval (PSI) between the prediction and the stimulus on the magnitude of the prediction effect. Experiment 1 used equiprobable stimuli and showed a smaller prediction effect at a 2-sec PSI than at a 0- or .5-sec PSI. Experiment 2 used unequal-probability stimuli and showed that the prediction effect was independent of PSI when the more frequent stimulus was predicted. When the less frequent stimulus was predicted, however, the magnitude of the prediction effect was smaller at .75- and 2-sec PSIs than at a 0-sec PSI. These results were discussed in terms of a prediction substitution hypothesis.