Orientation-specific effects in picture matching and naming

In two experiments, subjects made timed decisions about the second of two sequentially presented rotated drawings of objects. When the two objects were physically identical, response times to decide whether the two drawings depicted the same object varied as a function of the shortest distance between the orientation of the second drawing and either the orientation of the previous drawing or the upright. This was found for both short (250-msec) and long (2-sec) interstimulus-intervals. The result was also obtained when subjects named the second drawing after deciding whether the first drawing faced left or right. Following repeated experience with the drawings in the left/right task over four blocks of trials, time to name the second drawing in the same-object sequences was independent of orientation. These results suggest that, initially, object- and orientation-specific representations can be formed following a single presentation of a rotated object and subsequently used to identify drawings of the same object at either the same or different orientations. Alignment of the second drawing with either the canonical representation or the new representation at the previous orientation is achieved by normalization through the shortest path. Following experience with the objects, orientation-invariant representations are formed.     

Stigmatization of Non-Normative Family Size Status

Prior person perception studies exposednormative expectations about family size such thatvoluntary childfree and single-child women werestigmatized and large-family mothers were glorified. Incontrast, self-reports find no differences in subjectivewell-being among these non-normative and 2 to 3 child,normative women. To explore mostly white,college-educated, employed women's experiences withtheir real-life family size choices, interviews wereconducted with 15 voluntary childfree, 15 one-child, and15 supernormative mothers of 4+ children, and 15normative mothers completed a comparison survey. Quantitative and qualitative analyses revealedpatterns of universal satisfaction, yet stigmatizationacross the three non-normative groups, such as pressurefrom outsiders (including medical professionals) to stay within normative parameters persisted.One-child and supernormative mothers reported thatothers are critical of their child's well-being,intimating selfishness and neglect, respectively. These findings help coalesce the conclusions ofearlier studies.     

Why Don't Continents Move? Why Don't People Change?

People don't change because they can't, don't want to, don't know how, or don't know what to change. The transtheoretical model provides an integ-rative model for understanding reasons for not changing, as well as readiness to change. Stages and levels of change guide therapists in their work in helping clients change. Clients in the precontemplative stage typically cannot change without special help. Those in the contemplation stage are not sure they want to change. Those in the preparation stage are afraid they do not know how to successfully change. The levels of change help guide therapists and clients on what to change.     

Can Perceivers Identify Likelihood to Sexually Harass?

We investigated how men who differ in theirlikelihood to sexually harass (LSH) are perceived bythemselves and others. In Study 1, 36 Caucasian maleparticipants, who were paid for their participation, were videotaped being interviewed by asubordinate female. Participants rated her performanceand then responded to self-report attitudinal andpersonality scales. Higher LSH men reported moretraditional attitudes toward women's roles, a less femininepersonality, and lower competency ratings for the femaleinterviewer. Study 2 investigated whether participantscould differentiate between high and low LSH men from videoclips. Eighty-one male and 76female Caucasian participants, who were fulfilling acourse requirement, rated high LSH men (compared to lowLSH men) as (1) higher in LSH, (2) more masculine, (3) less feminine, and (4) more traditionaltoward women's roles than low LSH men. Implications ofthis ability to detect likelihood to sexually harass arediscussed.     

Occupational stress and burnout amongst staff working with people with an intellectual disability

The Occupational Stress Inventory (Osipow & Spokane, 1987) and the Maslach Burnout Inventory (Maslach, 1982) were used to assess the levels of occupational stress and burnout amongst staff providing services to people with an intellectual disability both in an institutional and community settings. Data were analyzed to determine the effects of direct client contact, staff mental health, and working environment (institution vs. community). While levels of burnout and occupational stress were not high overall, staff working in an institutional setting scores more highly.     

Report of the ACA Ethics Committee: 1992–1993

The activities of the American Counseling Association (ACA) Ethics Committee are summarized for the year 1992–1993. Complaints received and adjudicated by the committee as well as formal inquiries regarding ethical conduct are summarized.     

Motivation and the Self Concept: Persisting Goals of Young Women and Men

This study undertook to measure important goals and their persistence over time for young men and women belonging to two age groups using a theoretical framework derived from recent advances in motivation which links motivation to the self concept. A method for categorising subject goals was adapted from Nuttin (1985), namely the Motivational Content Analysis. The new system for categorising goals can be useful to psychologists, vocational counsellors, etc. Results of the study indicated that females had more persisting goals than men, and that there were significant main effects for sex in persisting goal types of Physical, Character, Autonomy, Intimacy and Contact in General with others. Sex × age interaction effects were found for Character and Autonomy, with 20-year-old females obtaining significantly higher scores for these persisting goals than other groups. Findings are discussed in terms of gender identity, and what Nuttin (1984) calls “crossroads” in adult development.     

Inhibition of return at multiple locations in visual search: When you see it and when you don't

Using a novel sequential task, Danziger, Kingstone, and Snyder (1998) provided conclusive evidence that inhibition of return (IOR) can co-occur at multiple non-contiguous locations. They argued that their findings depended crucially on the allocation of attention to cued locations. Specifically, they hypothesized that because subjects could not predict whether an onset event was a target or a non-target, all onset events had to be attended. As a result, non-targets were tagged with inhibition. The present study tested this hypothesis by manipulating whether target onset was predictable or not. In support of Danziger et al., three experiments revealed that multiple IOR was only observed when attention had to be directed to the cued locations. Interestingly, when attention did not need to be allocated to the cued locations, and multiple IOR was abolished, an IOR effect was still observed at the most recently cued location. Two possible accounts for this single IOR effect were presented for future investigation. One account attributes the effect to motor-based inhibition as hypothesized by Klein and Taylor (1994). The alternative account attributes the effect to weak attentional capture by a peripheral cue. Together the data support the view that multiple IOR is an attentional phenomenon and, as hypothesized by Tipper, Weaver, and Watson (1996), its presence or absence is largely under the control of the observer.