Predictors of COVID-19 precautionary behaviors to protect people with disabilities

Disability is conceptualized using one of two major frameworks: the medical and the social model of disability. The medical model of disability describes disability as an individual issue in which the appropriate intervention is to remove the disability. The social model of disability describes disability as a social construction in which the appropriate intervention is societal change to increase accessibility. This study drew on models of disability to understand predictors of engagement in COVID-precautionary behavior prior to the vaccine to protect people with disabilities (PWD) from contracting COVID-19. Participants (n = 720) with and without disabilities (n = 77 and n = 633, respectively) completed an online questionnaire measuring disability beliefs, attitudes toward PWD, concerns about PWD contracting COVID-19, and engagement in behavior protecting PWD from contracting COVID-19. Medical model beliefs were negatively associated with behavior. In addition, negative attitudes toward PWD and low concern about PWD contracting COVID-19 fully accounted for the relationship. Social model beliefs were positively associated with behavior. In addition, positive attitudes toward PWD and greater concern about PWD contracting COVID-19 partially explained the relationship. These findings suggest that framing disability as a social construction rather than a medical issue could promote greater public health behavior to protect PWD from contracting COVID.     

Out of the frying pan into the goalbox

Using heat as a negative reinforcer was shown to be highly efficient in producing a discriminative response in Long-Evans rats. Heat failed to generate the emotional responses usually associated with shock as an aversive stimulus. In a separate study, using the heat-training procedure, age differences in the learning facility of Swiss/ICR (Ha) mice were detected.     

A comparison of type II operating characteristics derived from confidence ratings and from latencies

On each of a series of trials, S judged two stimuli to be the same or different. S then made a confidence rating of his judgment. The difficulty of discrimination and feedback of response information (latency and correctness) were manipulated. Feedback had no effect. Latencies conditional on confidence rating decreased with increasing confidence and remained relatively constant with changes in discrimination difficulty. Type II operating characteristics were derived from latencies and from confidence ratings; both appropriately reflected differences in task difficulty.     

Visual perception of direction when voluntary saccades occur: II. Relation of visual direction of a fixation target extinguished before a saccade to a subsequent test flash presented before the saccade

Previously reported experiments demonstrated changes in the relation of visual direction to retinal locus for stimulation during voluntary saccades as compared to this relation before saccade initiation. The quantitative features of these results led to the prediction, confirmed in the present experiments, that there are shifts in visual direction for stimulation presented before the saccade itself. In the present report, monotonically increasing shifts were mapped with stimuli presented as early as 240 msec before the saccade up to the saccade itself. Such shifts cannot be accounted for readily by “inflowing” processes, and while “outflowing” processes seem to be implicated, their quantitative characteristics would need to be considerably different from those required by classical outflow theories.     

The Development of an SVIB Interest Scale for School Counselors

A professional school counselor key was developed on the Strong Vocational Interest Blank using Campbell's revised procedures. Of the 403 counselors initially contacted, 340 responded. Of this number, 203 were identified as professional counselors and were included in the professional school counselor scale. Each of these individuals was fully certified, possessed three or more years' experience as a counselor, was a member of a professional guidance association, and was thoroughly satisfied with his job as a counselor. Differences between professional counselors and non-professional counselors seemed to indicate a greater people-orientation in the professional counselor group. This was further supported by relationships of the professional counselor key with other scales on the SVIB.     

Variation of the magnitude of the horizontal-vertical illusion with retinal eccentricity

The horizontal-vertical illusion was studied as a function of retinal eccentricity. It was found that the relation of illusion magnitude to vertical eccentricity is described by a U-shaped function with large amounts of reversed illusion for the more eccentric positions. Substantial effects due to horizontal eccentricity were also obtained, but these were not consistent across subjects. It is suggested that the flattening of the peripheral zones of the refracting surfaces of the eye may be involved in the variation of the illusion with retinal position, and that the astigmatic properties of the central portions of these surfaces may be a prime factor in the usual horizontal-vertical illusion.     

Regional Differences in Junior Colleges

This study examines the geographical distribution of various junior college characteristics. Scores for 6 factors or categories of college characteristics, identified in earlier ACT research, were computed for each of 581 accredited junior colleges. When these junior colleges were classified and analyzed by geographical region, significant differences were found among regions on all 6 factors—Cultural Affluence (or Private Control), Technological Specialization, Size, Age (or Conventionalism), Transfer Emphasis, and Business Orientation (or High Cost). The regional differences are discussed and implications are suggested for research and counseling as well as for junior college planning.     

The role of phenomenal displacement on the perception of the visual upright

Tilt invariably involves the factor of displacement. A clockwise rotation of a rod, for example, results in the top being displaced to the right and the bottom to the left. The question was raised as to which is primary, displacement or tilt. Through a series of experiments, apparent tilt was found to be the perceptual outcome of phenomenal displacement. In addition, gravity seemed to play no significant role in determining the visual upright. Therefore, the conventionally accepted field theory of apparent verticality was rejected and the visual upright was interpreted according to principles which govern the perception of motion and radial direction.