The effects of Familial Sinistrality and preferred hand on dichaptic and dichotic tasks

Processing asymmetries for tactile-spatial and auditory-verbal processing were investigated in two studies using the S. F. Witelson (1974, Cortex, 10, 3–17) dichaptic procedure. Experiment 1 used eight right-handed males in a free recall procedure. More shapes were correctly detected by the left hand but only with a right hand response. In Experiment 2, right and left handers with no Familial Sinistrality (FS) were compared with left handers with various types of FS, looking at pre- and postcued order of report and precuing the response hand. No group showed hand asymmetry with pre- or postcuing for either responding hand. Right handers showed no difference with order of report; however, left handers made fewer correct detections for items to be reported second. There were differences between the Parental FS and the Sibling FS groups both on the dichotic listening and the haptic tasks.     

Efficacy of self-instructional training for reducing children''s anxiety in an evaluative situation

Fifty-six fourth-grade children were categorized as either high or low in trait anxiety and then assigned to a self-instruction treatment, minimal-treatment, or no-treatment control condition. At both pretest and posttest, the subjects recited a memorized poem while being videotaped with the expectation that they would be judged on their performance. State anxiety measures, a behavior rating of anxiety, a measure of performance accuracy and the time involved in reciting a poem were obtained at both pretest and posttest. Contrary to expectation, the self-instructional training resulted in subjects' exhibiting greater signs of behavioral anxiety, subjects' hurrying through the task (taking less time to recite the poem) and high trait-anxiety subjects' reporting more state anxiety while anticipating reciting the poem. Correlational analyses indicated that trait anxiety was significantly related to the measures of state anxiety and the behavior rating of anxiety but not to performance accuracy.     

Reality therapy: Icing on the cake of behavior modification

The paper presents a conceptual model for therapeutic intervention based on a behavioral orientation. Behavioral therapy is viewed on a continuum ranging from basic operant techniques to cognitive strategies applied to human interaction. It is hypothesized that the elements of reality therapy, with its emphasis on human interaction, are needed to provide closure to the therapeutic intervention and to help maintain new coping behaviors. Utilizing the context of an institutionalized client, suggestions for how this process might occur are discussed.     

Reasoning in the personal and moral domains: Adolescent and young adult women's decision-making regarding abortion

The present investigation of adolescent and young adult women's reasoning, and decision-making about abortion was conducted to determine whether reasoning about abortion could be described by moral, social-conventional, and personal concepts and to examine relationships between domain of reasoning and action choices. Seventy single women, ranging in age from 13 to 31 and divided between 25 women having abortions, 23 women continuing their pregnancies, and 22 never-pregnant women, were administered a semi-structured clinical interview about abortion and two hypothetical moral judgement dilemmas. A classification task was developed to provide an additional measure of reasoning in different domains. Another 29 single, first-pregnant women provided a comparison of the effects of these procedures on decision-making. Content analysis of the protocols revealed that responses to the abortion interview could be reliably distinguished between concepts of morality and personal issues and their coordination or lack of coordination. Subjects treating abortion as a moral issue were more likely to continue their pregnancies while subjects treating abortion as a personal issue were more likely to obtain an abortion. Differences in reasoning between pregnant and nonpregnant subjects were not observed. Moral responses to the abortion interview were found to be highly related to hypothetical moral judgments.     

Forest lights: Notes on the conceptualization of the unconscious

Using the metaphor of lights appearing unexplained in the night, the author argues for a conceptualization of the unconscious based on a posture of trust and acceptance rather than one of fear and explanation.His last book,Idea and Experience, dealt with Husserl's project of phenomenology inIdeas I. He has recently completed another book,The Embers and the Stars: A Philosophical Inquiry into the Moral Sense of Nature.     

Recognition and treatment of incestuous families

Incest is a major mental health problem, in terms of both prevalence and morbidity. Father-daughter incest constitutes the majority of reported cases. The possibility of incest should be considered in a family which includes a violent father, a disabled mother, a child in an adult maternal role, or an acting out adolescent girl. Intervention requires recognition of the criminal and addictive aspects of the father's behavior. Active cooperation between mental health professionals and mandated child protective and law enforcement agencies is necessary for effective treatment. Group therapy and affiliated self-help programs appear to be the treatment modality of choice. Rehabilitation of the family is based upon restoration of the mother-daughter bond as a guarantee of safety for the child.     

Pastoral Care: Myth and Reality

The increase in pastoral-care systems in secondary schools over the last fifteen years is examined. It is suggested that pastoral care is more effective in allaying the anxieties of teachers and their organisations than it is in meeting the social and personal needs of pupils. It is also suggested that pastoral-care systems assume responsibilities which are more properly those of the family, and that the best way schools can offset the effects of poor home environments is via good subject teaching and increased pupil involvement in schools.     

Perceptions of date and stranger rape: A difference in sex role expectations and rape-supportive beliefs

The sex role expectations and rape-supportive beliefs which are differentially applied to date and stranger rape were assessed. A sample of 62 college females and 33 males read one of three rape scenarios which varied according to the victim-perpetrator relationship (steady dating partners/acquaintances on a first date/strangers). Then participants rated the extent to which several sex role expectations and rape-supportive attitudes were applicable to the assault. MANOVAS and univariate ANOVAS showed that females' and males' perceptions of date rape, more than stranger rape, incorporated sex role expectations and that rape-supportive beliefs, primarily of males, were stronger in relation to steady date than first date or stranger rape. These findings are discussed in the context of the sex role analysis of rape.This research was supported by the University of Connecticut Research Foundation Grant #1171-000-22-00215-35-760. The author thanks Laurin Hafner for his help with the data analysis.     

The job climate for women in traditionally male blue-collar occupations

Rapid growth has been observed in recent years in the number of women entering traditionally male blue-collar occupations, yet researchers have paid little attention to this pioneering group. The present study undertook a comparison of the job conditions of two groups of nontraditional women workers, tradeswomen (N=71), and transit workers (N=151); a third group, school secretaries (N=389), was studied as a comparison group of traditionally female workers. Results from a 16-page mail questionnaire revealed that women in traditionally male occupations encountered significantly more adverse working conditions than did their traditional counterparts, and, in addition, reported significantly less satisfaction and more stress at work. Tradeswomen were the most likely to experience sexual harassment and sex discrimination, and black tradeswomen to experience race discrimination. The degree of job satisfaction expressed by the secretaries was unexpected, since most evidence suggests that clerical workers lack autonomy, and encounter boredom and routinization on the job. These findings are discussed in terms of gender segregation and the need to focus future research efforts on specific occupational groups in order to make appropriate policy recommendations as well as to provide help for women in these jobs.This research was supported by grants from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (Grant No. 1 RO1 OH02162-01A1) and the College of Health and Human Development, The Pennsylvania State University. The authors wish to acknowledge the invaluable contributions of Patty Lambert, Ming Qi Wang, Mary Harmon, Joseph Vasey, Gina Jay, Darrell Harvey, and Haleh Rastegary.