Social interactions among teachers, handicapped children, and nonhandicapped children in a mainstreamed preschool

The emotional tone and social integration of two mainstreamed preschool classes were studied to determine whether or not the findings of an earlier study would be repeated. Although most variables showed no differences between handicapped and nonhandicapped children's peer-directed and teacher-directed behaviors, result did suggest that, particularly in one class, nonhandicapped children tended to selectively interact with other nonhandicapped (as opposed to handicapped) children when engaging in more complex (associative) social play. Handicapped children did not show the same tendency to interact more within their own group. At the same time, handicapped children received more help and affection from peers, and were more effectionate towards peers, than nonhandicapped children. Teachers refused handicapped children's requests and corrected their behavior more often; however they also gave them more help and more affection than nonhandicapped children. The results were generally congruent with those of an earlier study but did show more segregation on the part of nonhandicapped children.     

Sexual preference,feminism, and women's perceptions of their parents

In an attempt to clarify the relation between parental variables, sexual preference, and sex-role attitudes, three groups of women were studied: lesbian feminists, heterosexual feminists, and heterosexual traditional women. The women were asked about their perceptions of their parents when they were in high school. The groups differed more from each other with respect to their perceptions of their fathers than their mothers. The perceived attitudes of the father were much more important in differentiating lesbian feminists from heterosexuals than in differentiating heterosexual feminists from heterosexual traditionals. Both the heterosexual groups (feminist and traditionals) reported having a more affectionate and involved father who also encouraged them more in the expression of anger than the lesbian feminists reported. The results suggest women's father relationships must not be obscured in research and support Johnson's hypothesis that the father relationship is more central than the mother relationship in sex typing and especially in the specifically sexual aspects of sex typing.     

Stress,coping, and life change in the single-parent family

Self-perceived competence in three roles (parent, social participant, self-supporter) was examined in relation to life satisfaction in a sample of 47 divorced, employed, single parent, middle-income women. Parenting was found to be the role of greatest perceived competence, and self-supporter the role of lowest perceived competence. Competence as a self-supporter was the strongest predictor of life satisfaction. Life satisfaction did not differ significantly between groups defined by length of time as single parents. For women separated less than 3 years, the social participant was the role of least perceived competence and the best predictor of life satisfaction. For those separated more than 3 years, the three roles were nearly equal in perceived competence, but competence as self-supporter was the best predictor of life satisfaction.     

Smoking cessation with behaviour therapy or acupuncture—A controlled study

Five hundred and fifty-eight cigarette smokers (mean 31 cigarettes/day) were randomized in four groups: Acupuncture, Behaviour Therapy, Placebo Medication and Waiting-list Control. The life-table analysis of smoking cessation showed, at a 12-month follow-up, no difference between Acupuncture, Behaviour Therapy and Placebo. Differences appeared only in an analysis of the abstinent subjects at each data point. Behaviour Therapy and Acupuncture accounted for significantly more abstinent subjects than Placebo at the end of the 2-week therapeutic phase. However at 9 and 12 months Acupuncture had a statistically-significant greater number of abstinent subjects than Behaviour Therapy, but there was no difference between Acupuncture and Placebo. The percentage decrease in smoking from baseline appeared significantly greater at 12 months in the first three groups than in the Control conditions. However, as in most smoking-cessation studies, the overall effect was small and non-specific. The results reflect the importance of maintenance programmes and of the prevention of addiction.     

A faith for all seasons

A FAITH FOR ALL SEASONS:ISLAM AND WESTERN MODERNITY. By Shabbir Akhtar. London: Bellew Publishing, 1990. 251pp. Hb. £25.00. ISBN 0–947792–41–4.     

Detection and recognition: Concurrent processes in perception

In two experiments, event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were recorded while subjects performed a simultaneous detection and recognition task. Ten subjects listened to pure tones in noise and reported both whether a target tone had occurred (using a four-category confidence rating scale) and whether the target was one of two (Experiment 1) or four (Experiment 2) tones differing in frequency. The amplitudes of three ERP components were found to be differentially related to detection and recognition performance. The early N100 component varied with processing related only to detection, while the late P300 varied with both detection and recognition, and a later slow positive shift varied only with recognition and not with detection. While the latenciee of both N100 and P300 increased for less confident target detections, there were no differences in the latencies of these ERP components between correctly and incorrectly identiffed targets. Recognition performance was above the level expected by chance even when subjects reported that no target had been presented. The results indicate that brain potential components can be used to disclose temporal features of the processing of a stimulus by the nervous system and support the view that detection and recognition are partially independent, concurrent processes in perception.     

TRAINING CONSERVATION OF QUANTITY (LIQUIDS) IN WEST AFRICAN (BAOULE) CHILDREN

A developmental ‘lag’ is found in the Conservation of Quantity (Liquids) in a sample of 73 rural, schooled Baoulé children (Ivory Coast, West Africa) aged 7 to 14 years. This study was designed to investigate if this ‘lag’ could be reduced or bridged through training and whether it could be attributed to differences in ‘performance’ or in ‘competence’. A sub-sample of 28 children aged 7 to 9 years was divided into two matched groups, one being trained for Conservation of Liquids and the other for Class Inclusion (Lavallée and Dasen in press). Statistically significant training effects were observed, which generalized to other concrete operational concepts and remained stable over at least one month. Since no ‘actualization’ or very fast learning occurred, the ‘lag’ was attributed to differences in competence; the training was sufficient to bridge the developmental lag.