Newborns' preferential tracking of face-like stimuli and its subsequent decline.

Goren, Sarty, and Wu (1975) claimed that newborn infants will follow a slowly moving schematic face stimulus with their head and eyes further than they will follow scrambled faces or blank stimuli. Despite the far-reaching theoretical importance of this finding, it has remained controversial and been largely ignored. In Experiment 1 we replicate the basic findings of the study. In Experiment 2 we attempt a second replication in a different maternity hospital, and extend the original findings with evidence suggesting that both the particular configuration of features, and some aspects of the features themselves, are important for preferential tracking in the first hour of life. In Experiment 3 we use a different technique to trace the preferential tracking of faces over the first five months of life. The preferential tracking of faces declines during the second month. The possible causes and consequences of this observation are discussed.     

Resolving Ethical Dilemmas in Management: Experimental Investigations of Values, Accountability, and Choice

Hypotheses regarding the effects of personal values and accountability on the resolution of ethical dilemmas in management were formulated and tested experimentally with a sample of 135 M.B.A. students. Personal values were found to be related to how subjects chose to resolve an ethical dilemma presented to them; but, as expected, this relationship did not hold when subjects were made to feel accountable to another for their choices. Accountability, unexpectedly, however, did not have a main effect on choices. This lack of an effect tentatively was attributed to the inexplicitness of the accountability manipulations. In a second and third experiment, support for the importance of explicitness in accountability research was obtained. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings from all three experiments were discussed.     

The Stroop congruency effect is more observable under a speed strategy than an accuracy strategy

Naming the ink color of an incongruent color word (e.g., RED printed in green) usually takes longer than naming the ink color of a color bar. However, when the ink matches the word (e.g., RED printed in red), naming tends to be faster. These phenomena are known as the STroop interference effect and the Stroop congruency effect, respectively. Although the interference effect has been robust and reliable across studies, the congruency effect tends to be elusive. It was hypothesized that this variation in outcomes might be related to subjects' response strategy. The experiment conducted to test this hypothesis induced either a speed or an accuracy strategy in two separate groups of subjects. Significant interference effects were found for both groups and the magnitudes did not differ. At the same time, the congruency effect was observed in the speed group but not in the accuracy group. These results suggest that researchers who wish to observe and study the Stroop congruency and interference effects should place special emphasis on speed. Implications of the study for a model of the Stroop effect are also discussed.     

Comparison of two locus of control scales in predicting relapse in an alcoholic population

A 3-mo. follow-up was made of 64 male veterans who were discharged from a 21-day Alcohol Detoxification Treatment Program at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center at Lyons, NJ. Scores on the Rotter I-E and Alcohol Responsibility Scales were significantly correlated with tendencies toward a more external direction among the 13% who relapsed, significant on the I-E scale and nonsignificant on the Alcohol Responsibility Scale. When tests were compared as possible predictor variables of alcoholic relapse, the difference in favor of the I-E scale was statistically nonsignificant.     

Development and evaluation of CHIPASAT, an attention test for children: II. Test-retest reliability and practice effect for a normal sample.

The CHIPASAT (Children's Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task), developed to assess auditory-verbal attention, was administered to a sample of 70 normal school children on two occasions separated by an interval of approximately 4 weeks. A significant practice effect was found, independent of age and sex, with performance improved by approximately 20% on retest. The test-retest reliability of .90 was significant, indicating task stability. The practice effect was consistent with that reported in the literature for the adult PASAT, and reasons for this effect are discussed. Initial test raw scores on WISC--R Arithmetic and Digit Span subtests yielded low but significant correlations of .38 and .35 with CHIPASAT scores.     

Making noises in counterpoint or chorus: Putnam''s rejection of relativism

Putnam's internal realism entails the simultaneous rejection of metaphysical realism and (anything goes or total or cultural) relativism. Putnam argues, in some places, that relativism is self-contradictory, and in others, that it is self-refuting. This paper attempts the exegetical task of explicating these challenging arguments, and the critical task of suggesting that a full-blown epistemological relativism may be capable of surviving the Putnam attack.     

Relations between neonatal states and 8-month developmental outcome in preterm infants

This study investigated longitudinal relations between measures of neonatal state behavior and developmental outcome in a sample of preterm infants (N = 16). Results indicate that irritability/reactivity in the neonatal period is positively associated with Bayley scores and exploratory play at 8 months. Conversely, neonatal alertness was not associated with these developmental measures. These preliminary findings, based on a small sample, are discussed in the context of preterm function.     

The role of cosmetics in attributions about sexual harassment

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of cosmetics use on attributions concerning the likelihood of provoking sexual harassment and of being sexually harassed. Subjects were 85 female and 76 male undergraduate volunteers. The study was a 3×2 between-subjects design with three levels of cosmetics use (heavy, moderate, no cosmetics) and two levels of sex of subject (male, female). Each subject viewed one of three colored photographs of a model wearing either heavy, moderate, or no cosmetics, and then indicated how likely the model was to provoke sexual harassment and to be sexually harassed. Data were analyzed using analyses of variance and the Newman-Keuls test. When the model wore heavy cosmetics, she was rated as more likely to provoke sexual harassment than when she wore moderate cosmetics. Similarly, when the model wore moderate cosmetics, she was rated as significantly more likely to provoke sexual harassment than when she was not wearing cosmetics. When the model wore either heavy or moderate cosmetics, she was also rated as more likely to be sexually harassed than when she did not wear cosmetics. In addition, male subjects rated the model as more likely to provoke and to be sexually harassed than did female subjects. Results are discussed in terms of sex role spillover.     

Personality diagnostic questionnaire-revised (PDQ-R) personality disorder scores and negative life events independently predict changes in hopkins symptom checklist (SCL-90) Psychopathology Scores

The present study employed a prospective design to investigate whether Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire—Revised (PDQ-R) scores and/or Hassles Scale—Revised (HS-R) scores predict changes in Axis I psychopathology levels over 1 month, in a nonclinical sample of young adults. The PDQ-R, HS-R, and Hopkins Symptom Checklist (SCL-90) were administered to a mixed-sex sample of 100 undergraduate students on two occasions separated by 1 month. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated that (1) time 1 PDQ-R composite scores predicted changes in scores on 11 SLC-90 scales; (2) time 1 PDQ-R impairment/distress index scores predicted changes in SCL-90 general symptom index scores; (3) only one of the individual PDQ-R personality disorder subscales—the schizotypal personality disorder subscale—predicted changes in SCL-90 general symptom index scores; (4) HS-R scores predicted changes in scores on 9 SCL-90 scales; and (5) in only 3 of the 27 analyses conducted did the statistical interaction between PDQ-R and HS-R scores predict changes in SCL-90 scores. These findings indicate that personality disorder symptomatology and negative life events may independently predict changes in Axis I psychopathology levels and, thus, support the continued inclusion of Axis II and Axis IV in future versions of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.