PARENTAL INFLUENCES ON CHILDREN'S EATING BEHAVIOR AND RELATIVE WEIGHT

We investigated the relationship between selected parent behaviors, child mealtime behavior, and infant relative weight. Subjects were 7 male and 7 female children varying in age from 12 to 30 months (mean = 23.9 months). Each subject and parents were observed during the dinnertime meal on two occasions using the BATMAN (Bob and Tom's Method of Assessing Nutrition). The children spent 58% of the mealtime eating. They spent very little time making active decisions about what and how much they ate (food requests = 2% of the time; food refusals = 1% of the time). We found significant correlations between child relative weight and (a) parental prompts to eat (r = .81, p < .001), (b) parental food offers (r = .51, p < .05), and (c) parental encouragement to eat (r = .82, p < .001). Thus, the present study suggests a relationship between certain parental variables and the relative weight of their children.     

Job Satisfaction and Nonwork Satisfaction as Components of Life Satisfaction1

The relationship between job satisfaction and life satisfaction is examined, using regression analyses which control the effects of satisfaction with domains other than the job and conditions associated with the workplace and with life away from work. Results from data analyses of two independent sets of survey data are used to elaborate and refine a multivariate framework for relating overall life satisfaction and job satisfaction.     

An investigation of bilateral asymmetries in electrodermal activity

Research in cerebral laterality supports the idea that functional differences between the left and right hemispheres exist with respect to cognitive style and perceptual ability. Related research, which has examined autonomic nervous system (ANS) correlates of cerebral laterality, suggests that a component of the ANS, electrodermal activity (EDA), is also lateralized. Some findings in the literature report the occurrence of bilateral asymmetries in phasic and tonic EDA as a function of a left or right hemisphere preference for information processing. This experiment used normal male subjects who were either left or right movers in a test of Conjugate Lateral Eye Movement (CLEM). This selection procedure served to maximize a subject’s preference for either a right or left hemisphere mode of information processing. Bilateral EDA was recorded continuously while subjects performed a visual recognition task using word (left hemisphere) and shape (right hemisphere) stimuli. The data do not support the contention that performance on a procedure chosen to selectively activate a given hemisphere elicits asymmetric tonic and/or phasic EDA. The results show no significant difference in the frequency of elicited skin conductance responses under either of the experimental conditions. Bilateral tonic EDA rose continuously over time and did not vary in either hand as a function of task. The present results fail to offer support for either of the hypotheses which argue for I) increased contralateralexcitation with selective hemispheric activation, or 2) increased contralateralinhibition of the EDR with hemispheric arousal.     

Backward and forward masking associated with saccadic eye movement

Visual masking effects on test flash thresholds were measured under real and simulated eye movement conditions to determine whether visual masking is primarily responsible for elevations in threshold that are sometimes associated with saccadic eye movements. Brief luminous flashes presented to the central retina before, during, and after saccades were masked by stimuli presented either pre- or postsaccadically. The amount and time course of masking were quantitatively dependent on stimulus parameters of intensity and temporal separation and were unaffected by eye movement parameters (amplitude, velocity, direction) as long as retinal stimulus conditions were constant. The duration of forward masking was longer than that of backward masking. When retinal conditions during saccades were mimicked while the eyes were held steady, masking interactions were identical to those obtained during real saccades. These results indicate that masking effects during saccades in ordinary environments are determined solely by the stimulus situation at the retina. Putative nonvisual, centrally originating saccadic suppression suggested by other authors is evidently not additive with visually determined masking during saccades.     

Disfluent speech associated with brain damage

The frequency and type of disfluencies in the spontaneous speech of 15 people with Broca's aphasia and right hemiplegia was studied. Two aged-matched control groups (15 nonaphasic stroke patients with left hemiplegia and 15 normals) were also studied. The frequency of disfluencies in the speech of aphasics was three times greater than that in the speech of either control group. However, most of the disfluencies uttered by aphasics were of the types commonly found in speech of normals.     

Effects of rape victim resistance, assault outcome, and sex of observer on attributions about rape

Perceptions of sexual assault were investigated as a function of sex of observer, nature of victim resistance, and assault outcome. Two hundred twenty-nine subjects were randomly assigned by sex to six resistance x outcome conditions. Hypotheses that women and men apply sex-role stereotypes in evaluating the rape situation were supported: (a) subjects were more certain that rape had occurred as the victim resisted more; (b) subjects attributed greater responsibility to the victim for completed that for attempted rape, while the reverse pattern was found for the assailant; (c) women attributed more responsibility to the assailant than did men; and (d) men attributed less fault and more intelligence, and women attributed more fault and less intelligence to the rape victim as she resisted more forcefully. Attributional terms; fault, blame, and responsibility were found not to be interchangeable. Rape attributions are discussed within the contexts of identification with victim's situation and perceptions of victim's control. Implications for choice of self-defense strategy and treatment of rape victims are also considered.     

How to drastically reduce priming in word stem completion—and still present the words

This paper describes a series of experiments in which we demonstrated that "dysphonemic" word stems, which are likely not pronounced in isolation as they are within a word (e.g., MUS in MUSHROOM or LEG in LEGEND), showed less priming than did "phonemic stems" (e.g., MUS in MUSTARD or LEG in LEGACY). Furthermore, words with either dysphonemic or phonemic three-letter stems gave rise to equivalent levels of priming when test cues were four-letter stems (LEGE) or word fragments (L_G_ND). Moreover, the difference between phonemic and dysphonemic stems persisted when nonpresented completion rates were matched. A final cued-recall experiment revealed that performance was greater for phonemic stems than for dysphonemic stems and that this difference was greater for older participants than for younger ones. These results are not readily accounted for by extant theoretical approaches and point to important methodological issues regarding stem completion.     

Customer Service Behavior: The Interaction of Service Predisposition and Job Characteristics

The achievement of customer satisfaction in service operations depends to a great extent on employee customer service behavior (CSB). In this study, 123 service providers (77% response rate) responded to a survey assessing service predisposition and job characteristics. Employees also completed a behaviorally based CSB measure developed after interviewing and surveying customers (n=96). Analyses suggest that job characteristics, alone, accounted for a significant amount of CSB variance. Job characteristics did not moderate the relationship between service predisposition and CSB. In contrast to previous work, service predisposition and CSB were not correlated. A service provider typology is presented to explain these findings.