Three theories of self-disclosure exchange

The present study tested predictions derived from equitable exchange, social attraction, and normative information theories of self-disclosure. Variables relevant to each theory were manipulated orthogonally in the following factorial design: (1) intimate vs. superficial vs. no confederate disclosure, (2) positive vs. negative evaluation delivered by the confederate, and (3) intimate vs. non-intimate disclosure as normative for the experimental situation. Groups in which the subject was exposed to one of the independent variables in the absence of the others were included, to yield 18 cells with 10 female subjects per cell. The findings conformed to equitable exchange theory, in that subjects were more willing to disclose to a high- than a low-revealing partner. However, disclosure appeared to be suppressed in response to low disclosure, rather than enhanced by intimate disclosure. Also, true reciprocity of disclosure did not occur, in that subjects did not completely match the intimacy of the confederate. Normative information proved to be a potent determinant of disclosure tendency. No support was found for social attraction theory. Although confederate evaluation was the best predictor of interpersonal attraction, it was the poorest predictor of intent to disclose. Attraction was not found to parallel disclosure level.     

Neurofeedback and the Brain

Neurofeedback is an emerging neuroscience-based clinical application, and understanding the underlying principles of neurofeedback allows the therapist to provide referrals or treatment, and provides clients with a framework for understanding the process. The brain's electrical patterns are a form of behavior, modifiable through “operant conditioning,” with the excessive brain frequencies reduced, and those with a deficit are increased. The learning curve for EEG has been described (Hardt, 1975).     

Racial Peer Group Selection in African American High School Students

This study examined the influence of racial identity and other potential factors that may contribute to African American high school students' selection of a racial peer group. Results indicated that racial identity, feelings of racial similarity, and racial composition of one's neighborhood were differentially related to peer group selection. Esta investigación examinó la influencia de la identidad racial y otros factures potenciales que pueden contribua a la selección del grupo de compañeros racial de estudiantes de la preparatoria Africano Americanos. Cien y cuatro estudiantes Africano Americanos de una preparatoria multi‐étnica completaron medidas sobre su posición de identidad racial, los sentimientos de la similtud racial, susceptibilidad a la presión de sus compañeros, y la constitución racial su vencindario.     

Choice

Understanding how and why analysands make the choices they do is central to both the clinical and the theoretical projects of psychoanalysis. And yet we know very little about the process of choice or about the relationship between choices and motives. A striking parallel is to be found between the ways choice is narrated in ancient Greek texts and the experience of analysts as they observe patients making choices in everyday clinical work. Pursuing this convergence of classical and contemporary sensibilities will illuminate crucial elements of the various meanings of choice, and of the way that these meanings change over the course of psychoanalytic treatment.     

Structured perceptual arrays and the modulation of Fitts's law: examining saccadic eye movements

On the basis of recent observations of a modulation of Fitts's law for manual pointing movements in structured visual arrays (J. J. Adam, R. Mol, J. Pratt, & M. H. Fischer, 2006; J. Pratt, J. J. Adam, & M. H. Fischer, 2007), the authors examined whether a similar modulation occurs for saccadic eye movements. Healthy participants (N = 19) made horizontal saccades to targets that appeared randomly in 1 of 4 positions, either on an empty background or within 1 of 4 placeholder boxes. Whereas in previous studies, placeholders caused a decrease in movement time (MT) without the normal decrease in movement accuracy predicted by Fitts's law, placeholders in the present experiment increased saccadic accuracy (decreased endpoint variability) without an increase in MT. The present results extend the findings of J. J. Adam et al. of a modulation of Fitts's law from the temporal domain to the spatial domain and from manual movements to eye movements.     

The Roots of a 'Libertine' Slogan in 1 Corinthians 6:18

Taking as its starting point Jerome Murphy-O’Connor'sthesis that 1 Cor. 6:18b (‘every sin that a person commitsis outside the body’) represents a Corinthian slogan,this essay suggests that a social, cultural, and religious matrixexisted at Corinth from which the Corinthians could easily haveconstructed a slogan similar to that which Murphy-O’Connorenvisages. Available evidence suggests that this slogan wasdeveloped, in part, by the convergence of at least two majortributaries: (a) a non-Christian or Hellenistic-Roman stream(including popular philosophy and incipient Gnosticism), and(b) a Christian or Jesuanic current, flowing most probably fromPaul.     

Modern Sequential Analysis and Its Applications to Computerized Adaptive Testing

After a brief review of recent advances in sequential analysis involving sequential generalized likelihood ratio tests, we discuss their use in psychometric testing and extend the asymptotic optimality theory of these sequential tests to the case of sequentially generated experiments, of particular interest in computerized adaptive testing. We then show how these methods can be used to design adaptive mastery tests, which are asymptotically optimal and are also shown to provide substantial improvements over currently used sequential and fixed length tests.     

Is hypnotic suggestibility a stable trait?

The present study examined the trait-like nature of hypnotic suggestibility by examining the stability of hypnotic responsiveness in a test-retest design in which the procedures were administered either live or by audiotape. Contrary to the idea that hypnotizability is a largely immutable, stable trait, scores on the scale of hypnotic responsiveness decreased significantly at the second session. Measures of subjective experiences and expectancies accounted for a sizable portion of the variance in hypnotic responding, both at initial test and at retest. Participants became disengaged with the hypnotic procedures at retest. Participants who received the hypnotic induction by audiotape did not differ from participants who received it live. The results are consistent with sociocognitive and altered state theories of hypnosis, and underline the important role of subjective experiences in hypnotic responding.