Electrocortical Responses to ecologically relevant visual stimuli among professional drivers with and without cardiovascular disease

Electrocortical responses were assessed using two simulated aspects of visual signals encountered in traffic: the Glare Pressor Test (GPT) and Event-Related Potential Avoidance Task (ERPAT) among four groups of male professional drivers: 12 with ischemic heart disease (IHD), 12 hypertensives, 10 borderline hypertensives, 34 who were apparently healthy and 23 nonprofessional driver healthy control subjects. The blood pressure (BP) responses immediately after the ERPAT were also measured. There was a significant between groups effect for the amplitude of the target N2 component in the ERPAT (p=0.02), with the lowest means among the drivers with IHD and the highest among those with hypertension. Drivers with IHD also showed the highest diastolic BP reactivity to the ERPAT. Significantly more than the expected number of drivers with IHD failed to recover alpha activity after the first glare impulse of the GPT. Professional drivers who failed to recover baseline levels of alpha activity after the GPT showed a significantly smaller N2 amplitude compared to those who recovered (p=0.01). There was a positive correlation between abundance of alpha activity at rest with P300 amplitude (p=0.02). An inverse relation was found between number of work hours behind the wheel and the amplitude of the target P300 (p=0.04). Results are interpreted in light of recent advances concerning integrative mechanisms of defence versus vigilance response patterns. The findings in this study justify further applications of these psychophysiologic methods to assess the relationship between simulated signals of the work environment and mechanisms of cardiac risk in this occupational group.     

Inferring the Meaning of Work From the Effects of Unemployment

Questionnaire data from 148 unemployed individuals were analyzed to investigate the meaning for work. Both economic and experiential functions of work were examined. The data revealed that, as predicted, increasing length of unemployment was associated with increasing economic and experiential deprivation. Economic deprivation, in turn, was associated with both more experiential deprivation and lower subjective well-being. Unexpectedly, experiential deprivation was not related to subjective well-being. The results indicate the importance of the economic functions of work in people's lives.     

Effects of counsellor interpretations and client reactance on social influence and the working alliance

These two studies investigated the main and interaction effects of client reactance and counsellor interpretation discrepancy and style on counsellor social influence and the working alliance. Undergraduate students who were divided into high and low reactant pups listened to low, moderate, or high discrepancy interpretations given by counsellors who used a tentative or absolute interpretation. Contrary to the hypotheses, results showed only one interaction effect for reactance, interpretation discrepancy, and interpretation style. Low reactant participants rated the working alliance higher with tentative interpretations while high reactant participants rated it higher with absolute. High reactant participants consistently tended to perceive the counsellor less positively than low reactant participants. There were unexpected gender differences, suggesting that females saw the counselling more positively in the low discrepancy condition while males did in the moderate. The results were not supportive of an interaction among reactance, discrepancy, and style, but are in line with macro-results in the counselling and psychotherapy literature indicating the primary importance of client variables.     

When accuracy is not enough: The moderating effect of perceived appraisal use

It is hypothesized that perceived appraisal use in making pay related decisions will moderate the relationship between instrumentality beliefs and appraisal accuracy related variables. Perceived appraisal use was found to moderate the relationship between instrumentality beliefs and perceived appraisal accuracy, supervisor appraisal behavior, and supervisor knowledge of performance.     

Effects of employment status and marital status on perceptions of mothers

Forty-eight female and 48 male adults at a shopping mall evaluated a briefly depicted adult female stimulus person on 24 7-point bipolar scales that described personality traits and professional performance characteristics. Each subject rated one of four mothers of a young child. The mother was portrayed as either employed or nonemployed, and as either divorced or married. Employed mothers were perceived as more professionally competent but as less dedicated to their families than were nonemployed mothers. Married mothers were rated as more nurturant and as better adjusted than divorced mothers.Portions of this paper were presented at the meeting of the American Psychological Association, Atlanta, Georgia, August 1988.     

Personality influences in the stability of early (teen-age) marriage in the United States

Previous research indicated that similarities and differences in specific personality factors are associated with differences in marital stability. Most findings were based on assessments of personality after marriage, thus confounding the effects of marriage on personality. The findings reported here relate congruence between spouses’ personality assessed prior to marriage with the status of the marriage three to five years after marriage. Each partner in a group of 72 teenage couples completed the 16PF prior to obtaining approval to marry. These data were examined using intraclass and multivariate analyses. The findings indicate that hypothesized patterns of personality factors differentiated stable from unstable marriages.     

The familial menage-a-trois: Mother-daughter sexuality and father-daughter incest

It is proposed that poorly integrated sexual feelings between mother and daughter are frequent early precursors of later incestuous interactions between father and daughter. Father-daughter molestation may be seen as an enactment of erotic urges and fantasies between mother and daughter that find origin in pre-Oedipal, mother-child qualities of relatedness. The familial menage-a-trois is an intrapsychic and interpersonal compromise for mother and daughter between a more deeply disturbed and a more fully severed internal and external bond; it allows both partners enough distance from their dissociated feelings to feel safe, enough proximity to feel vicariously connected, and enough libidinization to maintain an alliance with the exciting object.     

Narrative abilities in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and normal peers

A story retelling task was used to assess narrative abilities in 30 boys with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and 30 normally developing boys, matched on age and IQ. Each boy listened to two stories and retold them for another child. Results indicated that the two groups did not differ in their ability to comprehend and extract the main ideas from the stories, but did differ in the production of narratives. Boys with ADHD provided less information overall, and their stories were more poorly organized and less cohesive and contained more inaccuracies. As a result, their stories were often confused and hard to follow. Organization and monitoring of information are functions of executive control. Thus the observed deficits in narrative production in children with ADHD may reflect underlying deficits in executive processes.This work was supported by funds from Health and Welfare Canada (NHRDP) and Medical Research Council of Canada. Portions of this paper were presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Research in Child and Adolescent Psychopathology, Zandvoort, The Netherlands, June 1991. The authors gratefully acknowledge Michael Marriott and Patricia Fulford for their assistance with data collection and two anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments.     

Gender,creativity, depression,and attributional style in adolescents with high academic ability

The present study examined the relationship among gender, creativity, depression, and attributional style among high-achieving adolescents. One hundred twenty-eight eighth-and ninth-grade high-achieving students completed the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT), the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI), and the Children's Attribution Style Questionnaire — Revised (KASTAN-R CASQ). The results indicate that there were gender differences only on the verbal component of the TTCT, with females scoring significantly higher. For both sexes, there was a significant relationship between figurai creativity and a depressogenic attributional style. However, for females, high verbal creativity was associated with low levels of depression and a positive attributional style.The authors wish to acknowledge Monica Harris and Mike Nietzel for their helpful comments, and the Fayette County Public School System, especially Ben Oldham, for their cooperation and assistance.